A proposal for improvement in the utilization rate of banked cord blood

Cord blood (CB) has been used as an alternative source for unrelated stem cell transplantation (SCT) for patients with hematologic malignances, bone marrow failure syndromes, and immune deficiencies.Since the first patient (a child with Fanconi anemia) was successfully treated with CB transplantation (CBT) in 1988, over 20,000 patients worldwide have received unrelated CBT.In Korea, approximately 500 patients have received unrelated CBT since its first successful use in a patient with acute leukemia in 1998 [1].Disadvantages of the treatment, such as limited cell doses, slow engraftment, and a high rate of graft failure, were major obstacles in the early CBT era, although several advantages over conventional bone marrow transplantation (BMT) and peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) transplantation (PBSCT) have been reported.However, the findings from many clinical trials and primary research studies have led to substantial improvement in the availability and outcomes