Summary. Recent reports have shown that low nucleated cell dose signi®cantly decreases survival after cord blood transplantation. Prior to starting clinical cord blood banking we investigated the impact of obstetric factors on cell dose and volume of cord blood donations. Cord blood was obtained from 114 normal full-term deliveries. Mean volume collected was 93´5 ml, mean total nucleated cell count (TNC) was 13´1´10 8 . Statistical analysis was by backwards stepwise regression. Signi®cant factors affecting nucleated cell yield were volume of blood collected (P < 0´001), length of gestation (P < 0´0001), time from delivery of the infant to cord clamping (P 0´018) and total length of labour (P 0´002). In clinical cord blood banking we have successfully used these ®ndings for pre-collection assessment of placentae. Out of 476 cord blood donations subsequently collected for banking, only 29 (6´1%) have been discarded due to low volume. The mean TNC of the 409 banked units following volume reduction was 10´1´10 8 . Despite careful optimization of collection, processing and storage techniques, cell dose still limits cord blood transplantation to smaller recipients.

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Summary:With a steady increase in the number of volunteer donors in registers throughout the world, unrelated donors are more frequently used for bone marrow transplantation One hundred and ninety-one patients with acute leukaemia who received bone marrow from HLA-A, -B (BMT). [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] The oldest register is the Antony Nolan Registry, with about 150 000 donors, and the largest is the National and -DR identical unrelated donors and were reported to EBMT and/or IMUST, were matched with 382Marrow Donor Program in the USA with 2.8 million. The total donor pool in the world is around four million. HLApatients receiving autologous bone marrow for diagnosis, age, stage of disease and year of transplantation.identical siblings are available for approximately one third of the patients undergoing BMT. Several studies have comTransplant-related mortality (TRM) was significantly higher in recipients of unrelated marrow compared to pared the outcome following BMT with unrelated bone marrow and marrow from HLA-identical siblings. [2][3][4][5]8 BMT autograft recipients, 44 ؎ 4% (؎ 95% confidence interval) and 15 ؎ 3% at 2 years in the two groups, from unrelated donors has usually resulted in an increased incidence of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and a respectively (P Ͻ 10 −4 ). In contrast, relapse probability was lower in recipients of unrelated marrow, being decreased or unchanged leukaemia-free survival (LFS), compared to marrow from HLA-identical siblings. How-32 ؎ 5% at 2 years compared to 55 ؎ 3% in recipients of autografts (P Ͻ 10 −4 ). Two-year leukaemia-free surever, in patients with acute leukaemia, it is also relevant to compare the outcome following BMT using unrelated bone vival (LFS) in patients with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia was 39 ؎ 5% and 32 ؎ 3% in the two groups, marrow and autologous bone marrow transplantation (ABMT) because, if no HLA-identical sibling donor is respectively. Among patients with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), the corresponding figures were available, these are the two treatment options. 36 ؎ 6% and 46 ؎ 5% in the two groups, respectively (P = NS). In AML in first remission (CR-1), the 2-year survival was 42 ؎ 10% in recipients of unrelated bone Patients and methods marrow, compared to 69 ؎ 8% in autograft recipients (P = 0.008). When all patients with acute leukaemia Patients undergoing BMT for acute leukaemia between 1 January 1987 and 31 December 1994, and reported to the were included, the 2-year LFS was 38% in recipients of unrelated marrow, compared to 37% in autograft Acute Leukaemia Working Party of the European Cooperative Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation recipients (NS). In conclusion, this retrospective analysis supports the design of a prospective randomized study (EBMT, n = 314) and the International Marrow-Unrelated Search and Transplant (IMUST, n = 54) study were selecin patients with high-risk/advanced acute leukaemia who lack a suitable related bone marrow donor, to ted for the trial. All consecutively reported recipients of unrelated marro...

The image quality of temporal (mask mode) intravenous digital subtraction angiography is directly dependent on the shape of arterial time-concentration curves produced by the intravenous injection of contrast medium. Curves that are narrow and tall minimize motion artifact (misregistration) and maximize contrast enhancement (pre- and postcontrast differences). To determine the effects of rate and volume of injection of contrast medium on intravenous digital subtraction angiographic curves, ioxaglate (Hexabrix), a monoacidic ionic dimer, was injected into large mongrel dogs. Quantitative measurements of opacification were made over time in the femoral arteries using a modified General Electric CT/T scanner. Peak opacification was directly proportional to the volume of contrast medium injected. Curve width was not affected by increasing volume of injection. At rates below a critical point, slower injection rates produced progressively shorter and wider arterial time-concentration curves. Above that critical point, increasing the rate of injection did not affect either curve width or curve peak.