Factors affecting volume and quality of umbilical cord blood

Abstract: INTRODUCTION: Umbilical cord blood (UCB), a biological waste for years, is now considered a potential resource for various diseases. UCBs are used for transplants and transfusions across the globe. A deciding factor in most of the cases is the quantity of cord blood collected. With this in mind, we conducted a study to find out various factors affecting the volume of UCB collected. METHODOLOGY: This prospective observational study was done in the Department of Transfusion Medicine in collaboration with the Obstetrics and Gynaecology department. The quantity of UCB collected, presence of clot, and mode of collection, i.e., ex utero , in utero , parity, mother’s age, and weight, were recorded and analyzed. RESULTS: The volume collected in our study ranges from 25 to 118 mL, with of 70.74 mL ± 24.9 standard deviation. The factors affecting volume were the weight of the baby, parity, and method of collection. No relation was observed with the mother’s age, weight of the mother, gender of newborn, and time of cord clamping. In utero method of collection resulted in a greater volume of UCB bags with a smaller number of clots as compared to ex utero collection. CONCLUSION: More Clots is seen in ex utero collection in comparison to in utero . The parity of the mother, the weight of the newborn, and the mode of collection have a positive correlation with the volume of cord blood extracted.