Cord Blood Banking

What is Cord Blood and Can it Help Your Baby?

Cord blood is the blood found in the umbilical cord after a baby
is born. It is becoming increasingly popular to bank this cord
blood. The reason? The umbilical cord blood contains stem cells.
What are stem cells and why could they be important to the
future health of your baby?

Stem cells from cord blood are cells that can create other kinds
of beneficial blood cells. These other types of blood cells can
be used to combat a variety of diseases that attack the immune
system from certain blood diseases to certain varieties of
cancers. As medical knowledge continues to advance it is also
possible that a number of other diseases might be treatable with
this umbilical cord blood.

Saving stem cells from cord blood is becoming a popular option
because unlike bone marrow stem cell retrieval it is much easier
to harvest and less dangerous to the patient. In fact, the
procedure to collect cord blood from the baby at birth is
painless for the baby and won’t interrupt the birth process.

Another advantage of stem cells from cord blood is that there
appears to be less chance of rejection from the host once the
cells are introduced making it easier in the case of transplants
and other uses. Add to that the fact that banked cord blood is
much more readily accessible than searching for a bone marrow
donor through the bone marrow registries and you have an option
that makes cord blood seemingly preferable to bone marrow for
use in transplants.

Is cord blood preservation and storage economically feasible
though?

That remains to be seen. Although the likelihood of one ever
having to use the cord blood is remote, the fact that you may
have a bank account with cord blood can provide many with a
peace of mind unmatched. Having said that, the jury is still out
as to whether using the stem cell blood for your own child is
effective or not. For this reason, one should consult a doctor
well-versed in the knowledge of the benefits and perils of stem
cell transplantation prior to using stored cord blood or even
setting up a cord blood bank account.

Using a cord blood bank to store the cord blood for the future
use of your child could be important for families that have a
history of some cancers or genetic disorders. In this case
having the umbilical cord blood in storage is an option that
could be explored. There are an increasing number of cord blood
banks that handle cord blood storage. Usually there is an
initial outlay that may run up to a couple of thousand dollars
followed by a yearly maintanance fee.

Two of the most prominent cord blood banks include the Cord
Blood Registry and Viacord. Stored cord blood from the Cord
Blood Registry has been responsible for more transplant blood
than any other cord blood bank to date. They, like their
counterparts, have recommendations from medical professionals on
their site.

A parent can also donate the cord blood of their baby to be made
available to others via a public cord blood bank. One caveat
here though is that even though this is a noble option and one
that could very well prolong the lives of others in need there
is more red tape involved as the disease history of the parents
must be tested, analyzed and confirmed often making it an
expensive option. In the end, is cord blood donation a wise
option? On the positive side you have the improved health
possibilities and potential future technological advances that
may come up with more valuable uses of the stored cord blood. On
the negative side you have the cost to retrieve and store the
cord blood and the ambiguous scientific evidence as to its
efficacy. Choosing to store or donate cord blood in a cord blood
bank then should probably only be done after consultation with a
knowledgable physician well-versed in the latest cord blood stem
cell research.

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