Cord blood was first used for transplantation in Paris in 1988. The patient was an American boy suffering from Fanconi anemia, a genetic disease curable only by hematopoietic stem cells transplantation. The donor of cord blood was his younger sister. Today he is healthy young man and has a family of his own. Since that success cord blood has been used over 25 000 times, not just in children, but in adults too.

Cord blood donated by mothers to public bank is used to treat diseases where stem cells transplantation from a donor is needed (allogenic). In Japan and the U.S. cord blood is the most common source of hematopoietic cells for allogenic transplantations for children.
Child’s own cord blood could be use for autologous transplantation, for any diseases where autologous bone marrow is used. Those are especially some childhood cancers (neuroblastoma, medulloblastoma), lymphomas, acquired disorders of hematopoiesis, autoimmune diseases etc.
The use of autologous cord blood is possible for adults too. In fact the number of disease treatable by autologous cord blood increases with age.  New possibilities for its use arise in the field of regenerative medicine. Experimental studies observing cord blood use in treatment of diabetes type 1 or neurological defects are being conducted in Germany and the USA.

Autologous cord blood could not be used to treat genetic defect or in the case of early onset of leukemia (under 2 years of age). In both these cases it is necessary to find a suitable donor among siblings or in public registries.

Cord blood can also be used for a sibling in need of stem cells from a donor. In such a case the siblings have to be compatible in certain tissue characteristics called HLA antigens.

Cord blood Use in Slovakia
Slovakian physicians have good experience with cord blood transplantation. They would welcome opportunity to use it. So far sibling cord blood has been used to treat children suffering from chronic leukemia, Blackfan-Diamond anemia, aplastic anemia and the inherited disorder adrenoleukodystrophy. Autologous cord blood was used successfully for treatment of brain tumor (medulloblastoma).

Cord blood can be used to treat more than 80 different disorders