Cogdell Kimberly J
North Carolina Central University School of Law, USA.
Issues Law Med. 2009 Fall;25(2):145-65.
Each year there are over four million live births in the United States. Each birth produces umbilical cord blood stem cells, which are usually discarded. The author argues that rather than discarding the umbilical cord, this valuable resource of cord blood should be banked and used for research and therapeutic purposes. Umbilical cord blood could provide a solution to the critical need to find matching donors for hematopoietic transplants in patients who have no matching bone marrow donors. Creating a system of universal donation to a public bank will greatlyincrease the number of donors and therefore, the number of matches for patients. Such a system will facilitate the development and use of new technologies and transplant procedures, while providing an opportunity for treatment to individuals who would otherwise not be able to find suitable donors.
在美国，每年有超过四百万例活产。每次分娩都会产生脐带血干细胞，而这些干细胞通常会被丢弃。作者认为，不应丢弃脐带，这种宝贵的脐带血资源应进行储存，并用于研究和治疗目的。对于那些没有匹配骨髓供体的患者而言，脐带血可为寻找造血干细胞移植匹配供体的迫切需求提供解决方案。建立一个向公共库进行普遍捐赠的系统将大大增加供体数量，从而增加患者找到匹配供体的数量。这样一个系统将促进新技术和移植程序的开发与应用，同时为那些否则无法找到合适供体的个人提供治疗机会。
