Minneapolis -- November 16, 2007

The National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) commends the nation’s largest physicians’ association for new guidelines that could help increase the number of pregnant women who donate umbilical cord blood for potentially life-saving transplants.

The American Medical Association’s (AMA) ethical guidelines, adopted this week, said doctors should encourage women willing to donate their infants’ cord blood to donate to public banks, many of which are part of the national network coordinated by the NMDP.

Building the National Cord Blood Inventory

In fall 2006, the U.S. federal government established the National Cord Blood Inventory and set its goal to collect and store 150,000 additional units. Currently, there are almost 70,000 cord blood units on the NMDP Registry. The NMDP serves as the nation’s Cord Blood Coordinating Center, partnering with a network of public cord blood banks to educate and recruit expectant parents for umbilical cord donations and to facilitate the transplants.

"Through our network of cord blood banks we are working with the physician community to encourage moms to donate their babies' cord blood. The new AMA guidelines will help us with our efforts," said Kathy Welte, director of NMDP's Center for Cord Blood. "If more pregnant women have the opportunity to donate umbilical cord blood, more patients can look forward to a cure for potentially deadly diseases."

Cord blood donation and transplant

Cord blood donation does not change the normal delivery practice and the safety of the mother and baby is always the top focus. The blood remaining in the placenta and umbilical cord can be collected after the baby is delivered and the cord is clamped. Cord blood can be used to successfully treat a variety of life-threatening diseases, including leukemia, lymphoma and some immune deficiency disorders. 

Each day more than 6,000 men, women and children with these diseases search the NMDP Registry hoping to find a match; for many of these patients, a transplant may be the best and only treatment option. These patients turn to the NMDP because they do not have a matched donor within their family. Because donors from diverse ethnic and racial backgrounds are under-represented on the NMDP Registry, there is a special focus on increasing the diversity of units collected.  

Learn more about:

• Cord blood donation
• The need for donors
• How NMDP helps patients who need a transplant
  

AMA guidelines offer balanced information

The AMA guidelines said the utility of umbilical cord blood is greater when the donation is to a public rather than private bank, and doing so results in greater availability to patients from minority populations.  

"Families need to make their own decision about donation. These guidelines offer parents balanced information so they can make informed choices about cord blood donation," Welte said. "The NMDP will continue to work with expectant parents, cord blood banks and the physician community to increase the number and diversity of cord blood units available for patients."