Collection and preservation of cord blood for personal use

Unrelated-donor umbilical cord blood (CB) is a useful alternative hematopoietic stem cell source for patients without suitably matched and readily available related or unrelated stem cell donors. Expectant parents today may have the option of either donating the CB to a public CB bank or keeping and storing the CB in a private bank for potential use in the future. The alternatives are often referred to as public banking and private banking. On behalf of the American Society of Blood and Marrow Transplantation (ASBMT), we have reviewed the currently available data and opinions and offer the following recommendations: 1. Public donation of CB is encouraged where possible. 2. The probability of using one's own CB is very small-difficult to quantify but probably as low as 0.04% (1:2500) to 0.0005% (1:200,000) in the first 20 years of life-and therefore, storage of CB for personal use is not recommended. 3. Family member banking (collecting and storing CB for a family member) is recommended when there is a sibling with a disease that may be treated successfully with allogeneic transplant. Family member banking on behalf of a parent with a disease that may be treated successfully with allogeneic transplant is only recommended when there are shared HLA-antigens between the parents. The committee acknowledges the expanding potential of indications for CB in the future, and suggests review of these recommendations at regular intervals. (C) 2008 American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation.