[Current status of cord blood banks in the world]

Since the first successful transplantation of placental/umbilical cord blood (PCB) in 1988 at St. Louis Hospital in Paris, the effort has been made to establish large scale cord blood banks for allogeneic transplantation around the world. Recent reports from New York Blood Center which stocks 9000 units and shipped 700 units to US and other countries indicates that PCB transplantation is as effective as bone marrow transplantation. There are many cord blood banks in the world now and the number of PCB units stocked in the world are increasing rapidly. The methods for collection and processing of PCB, and test items for screening for viral infections, etc. differ greatly among banks. Therefore, the quality of PCB units stocked worldwide has become an important issue and some major banks are trying to introduce GMP or ISO system for the quality assurance of PCB. In this chapter, we introduce the activities of major cord blood banks in the world. Guidelines or regulation for hematopoietic stem cell processing including PCB has been enacted in some countries though the situation of support from their governments differ. International registry for PCB transplantation have been developed by EUROCORD. The international network of cord blood banks, NETCORD, has been established recently with major banks in Europe, United States and Japan to ensure the rapid supply of safe and efficient PCB units to the patients throughout the world. Obtaining information of international activities of cord blood banks in the world and cooperation with them should bring the National Cord Blood Bank in Japan into concordance with a developing world standards.