José Carreras Lecture

Since then, CBT has become more generally used; compared to bone marrow, engraftment is delayed due to the small number of cells; there are fewer HLA compatibility problems due to the immaturity of CB cells; the contamination with maternal cells is irrelevant.

In 2006, the number of adult transplants with CB cells exceeded the number of CBT in children for the first time.

Now, unrelated cord blood transplants are an alternative source for adults.

Recent studies have shown that increasing the cell dose is the most important factor and abrogates the effect of HLA mismatches.

To improve the results, it is also possible to perform double CBT; this provides better survival when compared to single CBT.

Finally, 100% of adults are now able to find a donor either via bone marrow or cord blood transplant.