Umbilical cord blood transplantation for treatment of non-malignant disorders

As the outcomes of umbilical cord blood transplantation improve, the risk versus benefit considerations with respect to treatment of non-malignant disorders must be reassessed. Recent data would suggest that the outcome of umbilical cord blood transplantation is comparable to that of matched unrelated donor transplantation. Thus, patients felt not to be candidates for this potentially curative treatment modality due to lack of an available matched donor should be considered for matched or mismatched unrelated umbilical cord blood transplantation. This review will cover the most recent data pertaining to umbilical cord blood transplantation for the treatment of congenital immunodeficiency disorders, inborn errors of metabolism, bone marrow failure disorders, and hemoglobinopathies.