Need for CORD BLOOD DIVERSITY compels organizational response.
A donor search for a bone marrow transplant needed by a Caucasian patient has a 77 percent likelihood of finding a match while a similar search on behalf of an African American or Asian patient ranges from 23 to 41 percent likelihood of finding a match. For people who cannot find a bone marrow match, an umbilical cord blood transplant often serves this unmet need.
In umbilical cord blood transplantation, the better the match, the better the outcome of the transplant. Cord blood doesn’t have to be as closely matched to the patient as a marrow donor, so it may be an option for patients with uncommon tissue types.
“Recognition of the need for broader diversity in the cord blood inventory has increased the Cleveland Cord Blood Center’s efforts to expand our collection sites,” said Marcie Finney, Executive Director. “We have contracted with the Health Resources & Services Administration’s National Cord Blood Inventory to support our contribution to an inventory of stem cells to help meet the expanding needs of Americans.”
Cleveland Cord Blood Center’s locations in northeast Ohio, Atlanta, San Francisco and most recently, San Leandro (in the East Bay area of California), establishes collection sites in areas of great diversity, including African American, Asian, Caucasian and Hispanic populations. “Forty-seven percent of CCBC’s inventory is from minority donors,” noted Finney. “CCBC strives to have cord blood units for all.”
According to Cleveland Cord Blood Center’s Atlanta Hospital Liaison, Candice Laster, the cord blood collected at Piedmont Hospital Atlanta and Emory University Hospital is 85 percent minority. “Being African American, I understand the importance of encouraging cord blood donation,” Laster said. “Expanding the diversity of cord
blood banks for both transplantation and for research has the potential to help millions worldwide. That’s how important it is.”