Costs of Cord Blood Transplantation Are Higher Than Other Graft Sources in Patients with Acute Leukemia and Myelodysplastic Syndrome Treated at Pediatric Centers.

In this commentary, we discuss the reasons why umbilical cord blood (UCB) allogeneic stem cell transplants are more expensive than matched related and matched unrelated peripheral blood and bone marrow transplants in patients treated at pediatric centers. We compare results of our previously published study with the recently published study from the Center for International Bone Marrow Transplant and Research/Pediatric Health Information System and also highlight the factors that contribute to increased costs of UCB transplants.