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'Decontamination' of cord blood collection bags before stem cell processing

A colleague in Montreal, Canada reports that her stem cell laboratory routinely 'decontaminates' the cord blood collection bag with 70% alcohol just before putting the bag under the hood. She reports that they have observed a 0% contamination rate when doing cultures on the product pre- and post-processing. They are fairly certain that the decontamination step is the reason for their 0% contamination rate. However, they are being told by other labs that the use of 70% alcohol to decontaminate the collection bag may impact on the final product's cell content. She asks if colleagues would comment on their decontamination process and if it will impact negatively on the final product.

Please submit comments to the e-Network Forum.

Ira A. Shulman, MD
CBBS e-Network Forum Editor & Moderator

W. Tait Stevens, MD
CBBS e-Network Forum Assistant Editor & Moderator
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Posted: May 31, 2007

Addenda:

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