Secondary leukaemia: after umbilical cord blood stem cell transplantation too

Since the late 1990s, umbilical cord blood stem cells have been used to treat some severe haematological disorders. In theory, this type of transplant carries a lower risk of immunological incompatibility. Ten cases of secondary leukaemia following cord blood stem cell transplantation have been published in detail, including 7 cases of acute myeloid leukaemia. The malignancies were diagnosed between 5 and 40 months after transplantation. The patients were severely immunodepressed, and analysis showed that the leukaemias were of donor cell origin. Patients receiving cord blood stem cell grafts, like all transplant recipients, should therefore be monitored for secondary leukaemia.