Karen Ballen
Editor

2014

The first transplantation using umbilical cord blood (UCB) was performed in 1989; the transplant was performed with an international collaboration led by Dr.Eliane Gluckman and colleagues in Paris for a child with Fanconi anemia. Since then, over 30,000 umbilical cord blood transplantations (UCBT) have been performed worldwide, and over 600,000 UCB units have been donated for public use. The first UCBT were given to children, but with a better understanding of the importance of cell dose, UCBT were extended to adults.