A new cord blood bank was inaugurated yesterday in Rennes by the French Blood Establishment. This organism collects donated placental blood, useful for treating genetic diseases, blood diseases or immune deficiencies.
It is the fifth placental blood bank open in France, after those in Bordeaux, Besançon, Lyon / Grenoble and Créteil. This bank will accommodate donations of three partner maternity hospitals: the maternity ward of Rennes University Hospital, the maternity ward of the Clinique de la Sage, the maternity ward of the Saint-Grégoire private hospital.
This bank aims to collect at least 1,500 cords in 2011 in order to significantly increase the number of grafts stored in France. In fact, the 10,000 units of placental blood currently stored are insufficient for Gérard Tobelem, president of the French Blood Establishment, which hopes to reach 30,000 units in 2013. With this in mind, a sixth bank will open in Lille in 2011.
Currently, France has the largest number of cord blood transplants in Europe but 70% come from foreign registers. This can be explained by the few grafts actually taken due to their lower quality and quantity. It is estimated that only 27% of units received by EFS banks were validated and entered in the France Greffe de Moelle Register in 2009.
If you would like to learn more about cord blood donation, read on with our article “Storing Cord Blood: A Scam or Not?”
