Umbilical cord blood (UCB) is now a commonly used resource for hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) transplantation; great effort has been put forth in standardizing protocols for processing, storage, and testing of UCB units. Because UCB units are selected on an individual basis to maximize the chance of engraftment, loss of container integrity may have adverse effects on patient outcome.
Conclusion There was a relatively low incidence of UCB bag breaks in this study that did not result in significant loss of UCB or adverse clinical outcomes.
With the FDA considering licensure of UCB for hematopoietic reconstitution, improvement in container design and possibly guidelines limiting length of storage will likely be addressed in detail.