What if a family donates cord blood and the baby or some other family member needs a transplant at some time in the future?
When cord blood is donated to the NCBP, it will be made available to any patient who might need it. Availability for the infant or another family member, therefore, cannot be guaranteed. To date, about 2,000 cord blood units donated to the NCBP have been sent for transplants: 1-5% of the 25,000 units donated so far have been transplanted within 5 years of donation; 20% of units donated 10 years ago have been used. A few units (less than 1%) have been used for research purposes or to validate and monitor the quality of our operations. Note: With federal funding and increased inventory of donated cord blood units nationwide, these percentages may decrease over time because so many more units will be available. Or, if new uses for cord blood are found, the percent used may increase.
All eligible cord blood units donated to the NCBP will be made accessible to any patient who might need them. Availability for the infant or another family member, therefore, cannot be guaranteed. To date, more than 3,900 cord blood units donated to the NCBP have been sent for transplants: roughly, 1-1.5% of the units collected since the year 2000 are used per year for the first 5-6 years and fewer thereafter. A few frozen units (less than 1%) have been used for research purposes or to validate and monitor the quality of our operations. About 90% of the units remain in our inventory after 10 years. These percentages are expected to change, as donation of cord blood becomes more frequent and as cord blood becomes more common as a transplant source.
