UPDATE: A RECORDING OF THIS WEBINAR IS NOW AVAILABLE. Save the Cord Foundation and WellSky are proud to welcome Dr. Karen Ballen, M.D. as our featured speaker for our next edition of Share the Science on June 18th, 2019. Dr. Ballen is Professor of Medicine and Section Chief, Hematology, Hematologic Malignancy and Stem Cell Transplant at the University of Virginia. Share the Science is a free webinar series focused on the cord blood industry and the latest research in this field. As always, we invite both health professionals and the general public to join us for this unique online educational series. Learn more about this exciting educational series here. Cord Blood: A Vital Stem Cell Source for Transplant CentersDonated stem cells (also known as allogeneic stem cells) are often the only hope for treating a cancer patient. Typically, when a patient learns that a stem cell transplant is necessary they immediately assume that the stem cells will come from a bone marrow donor. Finding a donor requires the patient to work with a transplant center who will begin a search to find a matching donor via a public registry such as BeTheMatch and/or WMDA. The donor could come from any corner of the world. The donor must be contacted and asked if they still agree to donate bone marrow. Meanwhile, the cancer patient is waiting, hoping and preparing themselves for the eventual procedure. Let's assume that the transplant center does find a bone marrow donor match. What happens next? Well, it is still a long and complicated process. Remember, the donor could be anyone, anywhere in the world. Are they still available? Are they healthy enough to donate? Are they prepared to make this type of commitment still? How quickly can they get to the required facility to actually donate? Is there a better solution? Now, let's assume that the transplant center finds a match via cord blood. What happens next? Simple. They order it. Once a cord blood match is identified (often via the same public registries used for bone marrow), the transplant center simply orders the cord blood unit. Collected at birth and frozen until needed, the donated cord blood unit can be made available immediately. It will be delivered directly to the transplant center where is it prepared by the team for infusion. It is administered to the patient much like a classic blood infusion. By choosing cord blood as the source of stem cells for this patient, the transplant center has not only saved time but they have avoided complicated logistics. They have also opened the door to new opportunities for stem cell transplantation. What other advantages or disadvantages are there to choosing cord blood as a source of stem cells? Let's ask an expert in stem cell transplants. . . For our next edition of Share the Science, we are proud to welcome Dr. Karen Ballen, Professor of Medicine and Section Chief of Hematology, Hematologic Malignancy, and Stem Cell Transplant at the University of Virginia. Dr. Ballen will discuss the challenges and opportunities alternative donor stem cell transplantation provides. She will review the indications and side effects of allogeneic transplant and discuss the selection of the optimal donor for each patient, including matched related and unrelated donors, and haploidentical donors and umbilical cord blood donors. She will also review recent data on umbilical cord blood transplant and minimal residual disease, as well as current large studies comparing donor sources. In this webinar, attendees will learn:
SHARE THE SCIENCE with Dr. Karen Ballen, M.D. Professor of Medicine and Section Chief of Hematology, Hematologic Malignancy, and Stem Cell Transplant at the University of Virginia "Alternative Donor Stem Cell Source" Free webinar. Open to the public. Tuesday, June 18th, 2019 - 12pm Eastern Time REGISTER to WATCH the Recording Now About the Speaker
We wish to thank Dr. Ballen for volunteering her time to speak on
Share the Science and sharing her valuable insight on the use of cord blood as a valuable source of stem cells. We also wish to also thank our generous sponsor and partner for this event, WellSky Health, who continue to support cord blood education through our “Share the Science” series. Comments are closed.
|
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
December 2023
Categories |