Cord Blood Association Provides Listing of Peer Reviewed Articles Related to Dextran Shortages
Current shortages of Dextran-40 in normal saline may have an impact on cellular therapy programs’ processes for preparing cord blood units for administration to patients. This shortage is expected to last until April 2022. To assist programs, the Cord Blood Association (CBA) provided some alternatives in a bulletin titled, Transplant Centers Report Dextran Shortage. The bulletin also includes a list of peer-reviewed articles published during a similar shortage in 2015. These articles are:
- How we handled the dextran shortage: an alternative washing or dilution solution for cord blood infusions.Reich-Slotky R et al., Transfusion. 2015 Jun;55(6):1147-53.
- An alternative to dextran for the thawing of cord blood units.Cloutier M et al., Transfusion. 2016 Jul;56(7):1786-91.
- How transplant centers deal with the dextran shortage: recommendations for comparing alternatives.Brady C et al., Transfusion. 2016 Nov;56(11):2657-2661.
If your program uses Dextran-40 but switches to an alternative, the material must be qualified and validated or verified to produce expected results within your processes.
