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Three studies needed to inform the design of the U-BET (umbilical cord blood for extremely low-gestational-age transfusions) clinical trial

Journal of Perinatology volume 46, pages 55–60 (2026)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Objective

To perform three studies needed to design the “U-BET” trial (Umbilical cord Blood for Extremely-low-gestational-age Transfusions).

Study design

(1) Survey-based self-assessment of Intermountain Health obstetricians regarding drawing umbilical cord blood. (2) Determine the percentage of the potentially donating neonates who have type O blood (to be utilized in U-BET). (3) Quantify cord blood drawn using American Red Cross collection kits.

Results

(1) 72% of respondents declared experience drawing cord blood; 62% with the placenta in utero. (2) Of the past 100,000 women delivering, 48% were type O, and 66% of neonates born to them were type O. (3) The volume of cord blood obtained at 10 births ranged from 20 to 86 mL after the placenta was delivered vs. 14 to157 mL when in utero.

Conclusion

The U-BET trial will consent type O women and use Red Cross kits to draw term umbilical cord blood while the placenta is still in utero.

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Fig. 1: Schematic illustration of the future U-BET process.
Fig. 2: Schematic illustration of obtaining umbilical cord blood using American Red Cross donor blood drawing kits.

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Data availability

Deidentified data will be shared on request to the corresponding author.

Code availability

Computer code used for statistical analysis will be shared on request to the corresponding author.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Lindsay Carlton and Stacy Breeze of the Intermountain Health Women and Newborns Research Department for their work on the survey and for Institutional Review Board communications. We also thank Dr. Luciana Teofili, Transfusion Medicine, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli–Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy, for helpful discussions.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Obstetric and Neonatal Operations, Intermountain Health, Murray, UT, USA

    Timothy M. Bahr, Martha C. Monson, Jessica M. Page & Robert D. Christensen

  2. Research Department, Intermountain Health, Murray, UT, USA

    Timothy M. Bahr, Thomas R. Christensen & Robert D. Christensen

  3. Division of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

    Timothy M. Bahr, Robin K. Ohls & Robert D. Christensen

  4. Division of Maternal/Fetal Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

    Martha C. Monson & Jessica M. Page

  5. Valley Women’s Health, Provo, UT, USA

    Heather A. Dabling

  6. American Red Cross, Denver, CO, USA

    James Cole Elliott

  7. Transfusion Services and Department of Pathology, Intermountain Health, Murray, UT, USA

    Sarah J. Ilstrup

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  1. Timothy M. Bahr
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Contributions

TMB, RKO, TRC, and RDC; conception and design, assembly of data, data analysis, manuscript writing, final approval of the manuscript. JMP, MCM, HAD, JCE, and SJI; conception and design and final approval of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Timothy M. Bahr.

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Bahr, T.M., Ohls, R.K., Christensen, T.R. et al. Three studies needed to inform the design of the U-BET (umbilical cord blood for extremely low-gestational-age transfusions) clinical trial. J Perinatol 46, 55–60 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41372-025-02345-7

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