Héma-Québec must eliminate 80 % of the cord blood that it collects

Pascal Dugas Drone

Saturday, 10 march, 2018 00:00

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Saturday, 10 march, 2018 00:00

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More than 80 % of donations of umbilical cord blood, used to cure leukemia, are eliminated by Héma-Québec because they do not correspond to the selection criteria, has learned the QMI Agency.

According to data obtained through the Law of access to information, the proportion of discarded donations continues to increase over the past ten years in Quebec. In 2007, 56 % of donations were rejected, while in 2017, this proportion rose to 81 %.

For example, last year, 2530 of 3124 donations had to be deleted and will not be used never.

According to Héma-Québec, which has opened the bank of umbilical cord in 2004, it is a rejection rate normal, which is similar to that observed elsewhere in the world.

Laurent-Paul Ménard
Spokesperson

“The explanation is biological : the number of cells in a cord blood is variable from one donor to another,” said the spokesperson for Héma-Québec, Laurent-Paul Ménard, in an interview with the QMI Agency.

“If a cord blood account is an insufficient number of cells, it will simply never be selected for a transplant,” he added.

The rate of destruction of the cord blood would not therefore be attributable to a lack of expertise, precise Héma-Québec, but rather to the biological characteristics that vary from one woman to another.

Increase in the rate of rejection

Moreover, the increase in the rejection rate in the last decade due to the eligibility conditions of the blood today more and more severe, ensures the body.

From 2007 to 2012, while the rate of rejection ranged between 56 % and 61 %, the minimum number of cells per unit of blood was $ 0.9 billion. Today, this rate is 1.5 billion cells per unit of blood.

“The product of cord blood are transplanted to patients whose condition of health is very precarious.

Therefore, any blood bank should establish minimum criteria to maximize the success of the transplant, ” said Mr. Ménard.

Héma-Québec is, however, less demanding with the blood from ethnic groups under-represented, for which the concentration of cell required in 2017 was 1.1 billion per unit.

The scarcity of donations from this population does not introduce rules that are as stringent as.

This concentration is nevertheless ” acceptable “, says Héma-Québec, without being optimal.