Factors affecting the volume of umbilical cord blood collections

OBJECTIVE: Our purpose was to find factors that may help increase the number of the HSC (CD34+) collected from umbilical cord blood for transplantation. STUDY DESIGN: We assessed the effect of cesarean sections and vaginal deliveries on the volume of the umbilical cord blood collected from 155 healthy term neonates retrospectively. RESULTS: The volume of umbilical cord blood obtained in 29 cesarean deliveries was 103.9 +/- 33.6 ml compared with 84.2 +/- 25.3 ml collected in 126 vaginal deliveries. Although the percentage of CD34+ cells was comparable in both groups, the absolute number of CD34+ cells was significantly higher in the cesarean section group because of the larger volume collected. CONCLUSIONS: Cesarean sections may allow collection of significantly increased volumes of umbilical cord blood and numbers of CD34+ cells compared to vaginal deliveries.