[A cord blood bank in Tunisia: usefulness and feasibility].

BACKGROUND: The cord blood is a souce of hematopoietic stem cells. This have encouraged the creation of many cord blood banks around the world. THE AIM: By this prospective study during 2 years, we tried to show the advantages of such sources of progenitors ,and to evaluate our techniques of collection, freezing, biological and microbiological survey. METHODS: For this aim, we tested 100 specimens of cord blood before and after defrosting. Our selection criteria were a volume > or = 60 ml, a CD 34+ cells count > or = 2.10(6), bacteriological and serological negativity. RESULTS: This 100 specimens have an average volume of 95.22 ml, an average nuclear cells count of 10.95.108 and an average CD 34+ cells count of 2.96. 10(6) The average cells viability after defrosting is 96.69%, and the average efficiency rate of 92.11%. The specimens selected according to our selection criterias were of 39%. CONCLUSION: Our results confirm the feasibility of a cord blood bank in the "Centre National de Transfusion Sanguine" in Tunis.