Preterm birth and its complications are the leading cause of neonatal death. The main underlying pathological mechanisms for preterm complications are disruption of the normal maturation processes within the target tissues, interrupted by premature birth. Cord blood, as a new and convenient source of stem cells, may provide new, promising options for preventing preterm complications. This prospective, nonrandomized placebo controlled study aimed at investigating the effect of autologous cord blood mononuclear cells (ACBMNC) for preventing preterm associated complications.
The results from this prospective nonrandomized study foundthat autologous cord blood cells infusion substantially reduced the duration of mechanical ventilation and oxygensupplement. Fewer preterm complications were observed inthe cord blood cell infusion group, although there was no sig-nificant difference. Preterm birth complications are the firstmajor direct cause of neonatal death, and no curative thera-pies are available to alleviate the symptoms of preterm com-plications. Stem cells as a treatment provides regrowth totheir underdeveloped organs and therefore could improve theoutcomes of preterm infants by adding more stem/progenitorcells. This may be helpful to prevent preterm complications.
MORE INFO stemcellsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/sctm.19-0106