Outcomes of a program to evaluate mother and baby 6 months after umbilical cord blood donation.
BACKGROUND
A routine program of evaluating mothers and infants 6 months after umbilical cord blood donation was started at the Milano Cord Blood Bank (MCBB) in 1996. This study evaluated the main outcomes of this program.


METHODS
All mothers donating cord blood at this bank from February 1996 through May 1999 were invited to visit the bank or the collection suite 6 months after delivery to report on the health condition of their babies and to provide a fresh blood sample for repeat basal serologic tests (HBsAg, anti-HCV, anti-HIV-1/2, and syphilis). A bank volunteer contacted the mothers by telephone to schedule their visits just before the expiration of the 6-month period. Before collection of the new sample, a trained operator interviewed the mothers to review the mother's medical history information collected at donation and to obtain the baby's postnatal medical history.


RESULTS
Of the 2450 mothers enrolled in the study, 2315 (94.5%) attended the bank in agreement with the program, 4 promised to attend, 95 could not be traced, 26 declined the invitation, and 10 were unable to attend. Of the 135 mothers who could not be traced, 29 (21.4%) belonged to non-European ethnic groups. The average time spent with each mother was approximately 20 minutes. In serologic testing, one indeterminate anti-HCV seroconversion (c22) was detected. Collection of the baby's postnatal history reported one case of congenital urinary malformation not known at delivery, one of protein C deficiency, one of phenylketonuria, one of mucoviscidosis, and one of 10q- chromosomal abnormality. The cord blood components from all these births were discarded.


CONCLUSIONS
These data support the feasibility of a routine 6-month program of evaluating mothers and babies giving cord blood at a cord blood bank. Such programs may increase the quality of components stored for transplantation.
Lecchi
L
L
Milano Cord Blood Bank, Center of Transfusion and Transplant Immunology, IRCCS Ospedale Maggiore, Milan, Italy. cbbank@polic.cilea.it
Rebulla
P
P
Ratti
I
I
Magri
M
M
Garcea
F
F
Marangoni
F
F
Bertelé
T
T
Giordano
R
R
Sirchia
G
G
D000328:Adult; D001782:Blood Donors; D005260:Female; D005312:Fetal Blood; D018380:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn