Mainichi Daily News
Sept. 27 2006

Princess Kiko has offered to donate the umbilical cord blood from her pregnancy for transplantation to leukemia patients, officials from the Tokyo hospital where she gave birth to a new Prince said Wednesday.

Prince Akishino and Princess Kiko made the offer to donate the valuable blood before the Princess gave birth to the Prince by Caesarean section on Wednesday morning, said Masao Nakabayashi, director of Aiiku Hospital in Tokyo.

"We'd like to register it on her request," Nakabayashi told reporters. Experts hope that the Princess's donation will deepen the public's understanding of umbilical cord blood transplantation.

Umbilical cord blood contains hematopoietic stem cells that produce red and white blood cells. Hematopoietic stem cells are often transplanted into patients with leukemia. Currently, blood from about 25,400 umbilical cords that can be used for transplantation are preserved at 11 umbilical cord blood banks across the country.

There have been 3,161 cases of such transplantation in Japan with the first one having been conducted in February 1997. (Mainichi)