title: Umbilical cord blood transplantation: a maturing technology.
abstract: The use of umbilical cord blood (CB) as a source of hematopoietic progenitor cells for patients with high-risk hematologic disorders receiving allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantations (HCTs) has increased significantly. Single-institution and registry studies have shown a decreased relapse rate and an increased transplantation-related mortality rate with similar overall survival rates after allogeneic HCT with CB compared with other donor sources. The transplantation of double CB units has overcome the dose limitation inherent in a single CB unit and thus has markedly extended the use of CB to larger children and adults. Similarly, the use of reduced intensity conditioning in the CB transplantation setting has allowed the treatment of older patients who would be unable to tolerate the myeloablative regimens used in the original CB transplantation protocols.
authors.affiliation: Department of Stem Cell Transplantation and Cellular Therapy, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA. boran@mdanderson.org
authors.forename: Betul
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Oran
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Shpall
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000378:metabolism; D002648:Child; D036101:Cord Blood Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D015925:Cryopreservation; D005312:Fetal Blood / Q000166:cytology*; D006402:Hematologic Diseases / Q000628:therapy*; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology; D006801:Humans; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000166:cytology; D011336:Probability; D012008:Recurrence; D012042:Registries; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000166:cytology; D014019:Tissue Donors; D019172:Transplantation Conditioning / Q000379:methods; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous; D016896:Treatment Outcome