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Importance of factors influencing the decision to proceed with cord blood transplantation in adults: results of a web-based survey of the Canadian transplant community

Bone Marrow Transplantation volume 48, pages 1482–1483 (2013)Cite this article

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Umbilical cord blood transplantation (UCBT) has emerged as an important alternative for adult patients lacking HLA-matched sibling or unrelated donors. Lower fertility rates in Canada over the past few decades will lead to a greater reliance on alternative donor sources such as cord blood and haploidentical donors in the future.1 Many centers have protocols and programs to support the use of cord blood in adult patients, whereas other centers have embraced alternative strategies to address the unmet need for stem cell donors, including the use of haploidentical donor transplantation. Our understanding of factors that influence the success of UCBT in adults has been refined in recent years and has been recently reviewed.2, 3 Understanding of perceived barriers to greater use of UCBT in adults is needed to guide optimal public cord blood banking practices in Canada. An appreciation of such barriers will better inform strategic choices by public cord blood banking establishments in order to optimize the use of UCBT in adult patients.

An invitation to complete a web-based survey was extended to the members of the Canadian Blood and Marrow Transplant Group (CBMTG) in November 2012 (∼250 members comprising physicians, trainees, nurses, data managers, pharmacists, transplant coordinators and researchers). A reminder email was sent 2 weeks later. The protocol was approved by the Ottawa Hospital Research Ethics Board and permission was obtained from the CBMTG executive committee to distribute the survey to its members. Respondents were asked to score 10 potential barriers to UCB transplantation in adults using a 1–10 Likert-like scale. The potential barriers were selected based on recent reviews addressing the selection of cord blood units for transplantation.2, 3, 4, 5

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Blood and Marrow Transplantation Program, The Ottawa Hospital and University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

    J Y S Chan, J Tay & D S Allan

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  1. J Y S Chan
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  2. J Tay
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  3. D S Allan
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Correspondence to D S Allan.

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Dr David Allan is a medical consultant with the National Public Cord Blood Bank at Canadian Blood Services.

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Chan, J., Tay, J. & Allan, D. Importance of factors influencing the decision to proceed with cord blood transplantation in adults: results of a web-based survey of the Canadian transplant community. Bone Marrow Transplant 48, 1482–1483 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/bmt.2013.85

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