TWiPO #24 ~ Cord Blood Banking: Interview with Machi Scaradavou

March 06, 2012

Dr. Tim Cripe welcomes Dr. Andy Kolb from AI DuPont in this episode of TWiPO, and special guest Dr. Andromachi Scaradavou, the Medical Director of New York Blood Center's National Cord Blood Program.

NYBC is the world's oldest and largest public cord blood bank, and collects, processes, tests and stores cord blood that mothers donate shortly after birth. The cord blood is for children and adults with no related donor available who need a hematopoietic stem cell transplant for life-threatening illnesses. More than 60,000 units are stored at NYBC and more than 4500 units have been provided for transplants worldwide. The variety of ethic groups represented is much higher in cord blood banking than in bone marrow donor programs. The percentage of use is climbing significantly for pediatric transplants partly because of the small dose required.

Discussants cover many aspects of this fascinating subject: background and uses of cord blood, logistics of collecting, processing, storing, and selecting units for transplants, as well as the advantages and challenges currently faced in this field. For more on NYBC seehttp://www.nationalcordbloodprogram.org/

We welcome all questions or comments at twipo@solvingkidscancer.org