title: Comparison between two cord blood collection strategies.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Collection strategy is the first step for collecting good quality cord blood (CB) units. There are two principal different techniques to collect CB from the umbilical vein: in the delivery room while the placenta is still in the uterus by midwives and obstetricians or in an adjacent room after placental delivery by CB-bank trained personnel. In this study, the benefits and disadvantages between two different CB collection strategies were evaluated in order to improve CB bank methodology.
  
  
  METHODS
  Valencia CB bank maintains the two different collection strategies aforementioned. Before processing CB units, volume was calculated and samples were drawn for cell counts. After processing and before cryopreservation, samples for cell counts, CD34 analysis, viability, clonogenic assays and microbiology were drawn directly from the bags. We compared the efficiency of the two collection techniques.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Obstetric date and umbilical CB was obtained from 848 vaginal (484 collected in uterus and 364 collected ex uterus). The proportion of excluded CB units before processing was 33% for ex uterus and 25% for in uterus. The difference was statistically significant. A larger volume and a higher number of total nucleated cells, CD34+ cells and CFUs were harvested in the in uterus collection group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Based on our findings, we conclude that the mode of collection influences the hematopoietic content of CB donations. Collection before placental delivery is the best approach to CB collection and allows optimizing CB bank methodology.
authors.affiliation: Valencia Cord Blood Bank, Valencia Transfusion Centre, and La Fe University Hospital, Valencia, Spain. solves_pil@gva.es
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Solves
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Mirabet
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Larrea
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Moraga
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Planelles
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Saucedo
authors.forename: F C
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Uberos
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Planells
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Guillen
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Andres
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Monleon
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Soler
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Franco
mesh_terms: D018952:Antigens, CD34 / Q000032:analysis; D001800:Blood Specimen Collection / Q000379:methods*; D015925:Cryopreservation / Q000379:methods*; D036861:Delivery, Obstetric / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D005312:Fetal Blood / Q000166:cytology*; D018380:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D010920:Placenta / Q000098:blood supply; D011247:Pregnancy; D013030:Spain; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
chemical_list: D018952:Antigens, CD34