Use of allogenic umbilical cord blood for red cells transfusion in premature infants: utopia or reality?

Extremely low birth weight (ELBW) infants almost always receive blood transfusions early in life. Newborn infants are currently transfused with leukocyte-depleted, irradiated red blood cells (RBCs) obtained from adult donor, which contains adult hemoglobin. Adult hemoglobin affinity for oxygen is lower than fetal, therefore red cell transfusion could be responsible for increased oxygen delivery to tissues increasing the risk of the “oxygen radicals disease of the newborn”. Though clinical studies have demonstrated that autologous cord blood transfusions in newborns is feasible, the clinical use of umbilical cord blood (UCB) for RBC transfusion purposes is still limited, expecially because of the small volumes achieved after processing of the UCB unit. The preliminary results of the first clinical study assessing the feasibility and the effectiveness of a transfusional programin preterm infants with packed RBSs obtained from allogenic UCB are shown.