London, January 2012
Source: London Evening Standard
More than 100 mothers at a London hospital have donated umbilical cord blood to save lives, reports the London Evening Standard. All gave birth at the University College Hospital which now officially has launched its donation centre.
Six weeks after the opening of the NHS unit, nearly a third of women given the option to donate - 140 - have done so, potentially saving as many patients.
Cord blood, which remains in the placenta and umbilical cord after birth, is rich in stem cells that can help patients whose bone marrow is not working, including cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy or radiotherapy.
Rachael Hough, a consultant haematologist at the University College Hospital, said the system of banks helped patients needing life-saving cord blood transplants to receive treatment more quickly. "The unit here will make a significant contribution to the national cord blood bank.”
"These banks offer real hope to patients with life-threatening cancers who would otherwise have no alternative treatments available."
University student Madelaine Burke, 19, from Northolt is among those who have benefited. She was treated for an acute form of leukaemia with a cord blood transplant four years ago at UCH, with the blood in those days having to be brought in from another hospital.
Today Ms Burke said: "There is no doubt my transplant was life-saving. But a lot of mothers don't realise that an umbilical cord can be so precious. I would ask more to donate."
The cord blood banks are in areas which serve ethnically diverse communities, in the hope that more donations will come from black and ethnic minorities who have to wait longer to find a matched donor.
Expectant mothers register their interest as potential donors during their pregnancy and provide consent in advance for collection, testing and use of the cord blood.
Read more at: uclh.nhs.uk