Cord Blood Banking Basic 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What percentage of cord blood collections from public banks are typically discarded due to insufficient volume or cell count?
- Less than 5%
- Approximately 20–30% (Correct answer)
- About 50%
- Over 75%
Correct answer: Approximately 20–30%
Roughly 20–30% of collected cord blood units are discarded because they fail minimum volume or TNC thresholds required for banking.
Question 2: Which condition is cord blood transplantation most commonly used to treat?
- Type 1 diabetes
- Hematologic malignancies such as leukemia and lymphoma (Correct answer)
- Autoimmune disorders like multiple sclerosis
- Solid tumors such as lung cancer
Correct answer: Hematologic malignancies such as leukemia and lymphoma
Cord blood transplantation is most established for treating blood cancers and bone marrow disorders, including leukemia, lymphoma, and aplastic anemia.
Question 3: What is a dual-unit cord blood transplant, and why is it used?
- Two units from the same donor to double the dose
- Two units from different donors to increase total stem cell dose for larger patients (Correct answer)
- A unit split between two recipients to maximize use
- A backup unit stored separately in case the primary unit is contaminated
Correct answer: Two units from different donors to increase total stem cell dose for larger patients
Dual-unit transplants combine two cord blood units from different donors to achieve a sufficient stem cell dose for adult or larger pediatric patients.
Question 4: Which organization maintains the largest international registry that includes cord blood units from banks worldwide?
- AABB
- World Marrow Donor Association (WMDA) (Correct answer)
- National Bone Marrow Donor Program (Be The Match)
- Eurocord
Correct answer: World Marrow Donor Association (WMDA)
The WMDA coordinates international registries and sets standards for searching and sharing cord blood units and bone marrow donors globally.
Question 5: What happens to the cord blood unit once a transplant center selects it from a public registry?
- The unit is immediately infused without additional testing
- The bank releases it after confirming identity and conducting additional confirmatory testing (Correct answer)
- The unit is re-collected to ensure freshness before shipment
- The original donor family is contacted for re-consent
Correct answer: The bank releases it after confirming identity and conducting additional confirmatory testing
Before shipment, the bank performs confirmatory identity testing, thaws a segment for additional viability and sterility checks, then ships the unit to the transplant center.
Question 6: A cord blood bank's 'segment' refers to what?
- A portion of the placenta retained for research
- A sealed tube of cord blood attached to the bag, used for additional testing (Correct answer)
- The section of the umbilical cord excised after clamping
- A digital record segment in the bank's database
Correct answer: A sealed tube of cord blood attached to the bag, used for additional testing
Segments are small sealed tubing attached to the cord blood bag, used for confirmatory HLA typing, infectious disease testing, and cell count verification before transplant.
Question 7: What is engraftment in the context of a cord blood transplant?
- The surgical attachment of the umbilical cord to a recipient
- The successful establishment of donor stem cells producing new blood cells in the recipient (Correct answer)
- The process of thawing a frozen cord blood unit before infusion
- A measure of how many units a bank stores per year
Correct answer: The successful establishment of donor stem cells producing new blood cells in the recipient
Engraftment occurs when transplanted donor stem cells successfully take hold in the recipient's bone marrow and begin producing healthy blood cells.
Cord Blood Banking Basic 4
What percentage of cord blood collections from public banks are typically discarded due to insufficient volume or cell count?