Cord Blood Transplantation (4)

The Cord Blood Center at Children's Hospital Oakland was developed to provide cord blood services to families of patients with thalassemia and sickle cell anemia. The Center offers a variety of services, including: Each cord blood unit stored by the Center is the property of the donor family and is reserved for use in bone marrow transplantation (BMT) at a BMT center chosen by the family. The services of the Cord Blood Center are provided at no charge to the family.

Cord blood units collected by the Center are tested for hemoglobin genotype and HLA tissue type using state-of-the-art techniques. Samples are also screened for transmissible infectious diseases. All information related to the sample are kept in a confidential file.

Children's Hospital Oakland has a large clinical program in thalassemia and sickle cell anemia directed by Elliott Vichinsky, MD. The services of the Cord Blood Program are also available to patients with thalassemia and sickle cell anemia throughout the country.

Having cord blood collected from a family does not mean making a commitment to proceed with a transplantation. It simply gives the family a chance to store the cord blood for potential future use. Cord Blood Center staff believe that this is an important consideration, especially since cord blood units may be used in the absence of a perfect HLA match.

How is it done?
Center staff will assist families of patients with thalassemia and sickle cell anemia who wish to have cord blood collected. If the parent of a patient with thalassemia or sickle cell anemia is pregnant and wishes to store cord blood, Center staff will ship the family an information packet and a collection kit, which they share with the health care provider who will collect the cord blood at the time of delivery. Samples will be shipped to Children's Hospital Oakland in the specified containers by designated couriers at no expense to the family. <back>

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