Background and Objectives: Umbilical cord blood (UCB) contains haematopoietic stem cells and can be used as an alternative to bone marrow transplantation in certain cases. Engraftment was dependent upon the haematopoietic progenitor cell content of the cord blood units. This study was designed to investigate the influence of obstetric, neonatal and collection factors on the volume and haematopoietic content of UCB donations. Material and Methods: A retrospective analysis of obstetric and neonatal factors was performed from 300 cord blood donations in Valencia Cord Blood Bank. Maternal, neonatal and collection factors influencing cord blood quality measured as volume, total nucleated cell count, CD34+ cells and colony-forming units (CFU) were analysed. Results: Bigger babies produced cord blood units with larger volume, higher cells counts, CFU and CD34 cell counts. In the multivariate analysis, we found that both placental weight and mode of collection were predictor variables for total nucleated cell count, CD34 cells and CFU. Conclusion: Our study concludes that cord blood units must be collected before placental delivery and that birth weight, as an estimation of the placental weight, could be added to standard cord blood donors criteria in order to improve the bank efficiency.

Keywords:
Cord blood, Obstetric factors, Haematopoietic progenitors
© 2005 S. Karger AG, Basel
2005
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