Successful cord blood transplantation for sickle cell anemia from a sibling who is human leukocyte antigen-identical: Implications for comprehensive care

We report the successful transplantation of umbilical cord blood stem cells from a sibling who is human leukocyte antigen-marched to a child with sick le cell anemia. Conditioning was with busulfan, cyclophosphamide, and antit hymocyte globulin, Time to neutrophil count >500/mu L was 23 days and to pl atelet count >50,000/mu L was 49 days. Full donor engraftment was achieved without graft-versus-host disease. This case demonstrates the potential use fulness of harvesting cord blood from full siblings of patients with sickle cell disease. Routine collection of umbilical cord blood from siblings sho uld be considered for patients with sickle cell disease, and may increase a cceptance and use of transplantation by families.