How long to take off for baby? Couples can't agree. But much of that resource is wasted. But should you bank, or donate? Consider the likelihood of using those stem cells. The groups recommend public bank donation over private banking because the cord blood has limited personal applications. Identity theft victims: You may know the culprit.
The chance of baby later benefiting from his or her own banked cord blood is currently less than 0. Not only is that because the diseases currently treatable with cord blood are fairly rare, but with many, the child's cord blood would be unusable because those stem cells contain the same genetic defects, said Shearer, who co-authored the AAP policy statement.
For patients, the chances of finding a match among donations is high. A study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that, depending on a patient's ethnic background, 66 percent to 97 percent can find a suitable match among donated umbilical cord-blood units or live bone-marrow donors in the National Marrow Donor Program's Be the Match Registry.
The best case for private banking is if there's already a family history of one of the diseases currently treatable with cord blood, said Giralt, who is also chief attending physician of the adult bone marrow transplant service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and a professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College.
A baby might be a match for an afflicted family member, now or in the future. Talk with your doctor about those possibilities. Banks say parents should also consider potential future applications. Researchers are assessing whether the stem cells from cord blood could be useful in treating conditions including cerebral palsy and autism, Bruursema said. Advancements could make banking a better bet down the line but may hold less sway for those currently expecting.
If you don't deliver at one of these hospitals, you can contact either Cryobanks International or LifebankUSA, commercial organizations that store both private and public units. These banks pick up the tab for your donation minus the physician's collection fee.
Complicating matters further, each public bank has its own registry, so transplant centers must search many different databases to find a match for a patient. Currently, a Caucasian patient has an 88 percent chance of finding a cord-blood match through a public-bank registry, and minorities have a 58 percent chance. Collection hospitals tend to be in areas with higher rates of Caucasian births , and parents from certain ethnic groups are wary of donating for religious or cultural reasons.
Fortunately, those odds should improve soon. The goal is to expand the existing inventory of 45, donated cord-blood units to , Ironically, some private banks also hope to benefit from this new legislation.
In fact, because the bill recommends that pregnant women be informed of all of their cord-blood options, it's likely that donations to both public and private banks will increase. Of course, this means that expectant parents will have one more choice to make about their child's health and future. The best choice is the one that works for your family. Obviously, price and a compelling Web site aren't the only factors to consider when choosing a bank.
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The Cord Blood Controversy. By Belle: University Chancellor April 12, Save Pin FB More. Newborn Baby Looking Up. Insurance -- or Reassurance? Is the facility accredited by the American Association of Blood Banks? This means its labs, banks, and procedures meet set standards. How long has the company been in business? At least five years is best.
How many units does it store? Look for a bank that has thousands. How many successful transplants have been performed with its stored samples? Having at least one demonstrates that its process works, but two or three is better.
Is the blood stored as a single unit or in several samples? Freezing in portions is preferred so the blood can be tested for potential transplant use without thawing -- and wasting -- the entire sample. Is the company private or publicly held? If it's a publicly traded company, you'll have the advantage of reviewing its financials.
Many banks are part of larger biotech companies. Is the storage fee fixed or subject to increases? Cord blood is known to contain potentially life-saving hematopoietic blood stem cells that offer advantages over bone marrow or peripheral stem cells, says Dr.
Cord blood banks will tell parents that stem cell therapy has benefits for up to 80 known diseases, but the actual applications are hardly as common as they would lead you to believe. Cord blood stem cells are also used for medical research. But the pace of achieving applicable uses has been slow, Verter says. Even if a donation site is close by, most cord harvests are not viable for use in either therapy or research.
The hospitals only bank the biggest and best units that they receive. The rejection rate is like 80 percent, so there's really no guarantee you'll ever see it again.
Health insurance rarely covers any of this.
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