What is blood stem cell transplantation?
Each year, thousands of patients are diagnosed with a disease that may require treatment with a hematopoietic or blood stem cell transplant. These stem cells traditionally come from bone marrow donation, whether from either a relative or an unrelated donor. However, an estimated 10,000–15,000 patients a year cannot find a donor that is a close enough match from among the millions of donors listed in the global database. Other patients don’t have enough time to find an unrelated adult donor due to the rapid progression of their disease. In these cases, cord blood may be an option for blood stem cell transplantation.