Table 1. Benefits and limitations of... | American Society of Hematology

Table 1.

Benefits and limitations of umbilical cord blood (UCB) as a hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) source compared with unrelated volunteer donors (URD).

Benefit of UCB	Comparison with URD
Rapid availability Ability to reschedule easily Reduced requirement of HLA match Less severe GVHD	Advantage over URD Potential advantage over URD Advantage over URD Advantage over URD
Limitation of UCB	Comparison with URD
Limited cell dose Limited inventory to enable at least 4/6 matches of adequate dose for patients of all races and ethnicities Potential for variable unit quality at thaw Inability to obtain additional collections from donor	Disadvantage over URD URD also has limited availability to minorities Disadvantage over URD Disadvantage over URD for cellular therapy

Benefit of UCB	Comparison with URD
Rapid availability Ability to reschedule easily Reduced requirement of HLA match Less severe GVHD	Advantage over URD Potential advantage over URD Advantage over URD Advantage over URD
Limitation of UCB	Comparison with URD
Limited cell dose Limited inventory to enable at least 4/6 matches of adequate dose for patients of all races and ethnicities Potential for variable unit quality at thaw Inability to obtain additional collections from donor	Disadvantage over URD URD also has limited availability to minorities Disadvantage over URD Disadvantage over URD for cellular therapy