Umbilical Cord Blood Collection and Processing for Cardiac Regeneration in Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome Patients

Cell-based cardiac regeneration has been the focus of acquired, adult heart disease for many
years. However, congenital heart disease with severe structural abnormalities may also be
reasonable targets for cell-based therapies. Interestingly, the pediatric heart is naturally
growing and may be the most amendable to regenerative strategies. Therefore, identifying
autologous cells (cells from the patient's own body) would be important to initiate these
studies.

This study aims to validate the use of umbilical cord blood as a source of autologous cells
for the purpose of cardiac repair of congenital heart disease. Cells will be isolated from
the cord blood to help us determine the feasibility of collection, processing, and storage of
these samples at the time of birth of infants with prenatal diagnosis of hypoplastic left
heart syndrome. This study may be useful for the development of pre-clinical and clinical
studies aimed at the long-term goal of repairing damaged heart muscle.