Cord blood units are now routinely used as an alternative source of haematopoietic stem cells from unrelated donors for allogeneic transplantation. In France, cord blood units are collected in a network of more than 70 maternity hospitals in relationship with 11 public cord blood banks part of the Réseau Français de Sang Placentaire. Unrelated cord blood unit donation is an altruistic act, anonymous and free. Donors are selected on medical criteria. Then, only cord blood unit containing more than 100 × 10(7) total nucleated cells and more than 1.8 × 10(6) CD34+ cells are cryopreserved according to Réseau Français de Sang Placentaire recommendations. Cord blood units qualification will be completed by viral and functional testings and the clinical outcome of the newborn child 6 weeks after the collection. Since the last 5 years, cord blood banking growing in France in order to enhance the French registry of volunteer donors by increasing both the number and diversity of the donors listed and make available cord blood banking for transplantation.
Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier SAS.