Cord blood transplantation in adult patients

Early clinical reports outlining outcomes for primarily pediatric patients undergoing UCB transplantation point to delayed time to hematopoietic recovery and favorable incidence and severity of GvHD. Recently, clinical reports in adult patients identified the feasibility of UCB transplantation for those patients lacking an available histocompatible-related or unrelated adult donor Intensive clinical and laboratory research is ongoing focused on strategies to foster UCB allogeneic donor engraftment thereby allowing wider application of this stem cell source for patients requiring allogeneic transplantation.