The Truth About Cord Blood Banking
Cord blood banking--or collecting and freezing the blood in a baby's umbilical cord for later use in treating diseases--is a confusing and controversial issue for parents, and for medical professionals. Parents who are considering banking their baby's cord blood should consider both the potential advantages and disadvantages of the procedure.
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Benefits
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The blood from a newborn baby's umbilical cord contains stem cells that can be used to treat a variety of blood and bone diseases, such as leukemia and lymphoma, severe forms of anemia, osteoporosis and sickle-cell disease. Although chemotherapy and blood transfusions are usually the first course of treatment for such diseases, in some cases a stem cell transplant becomes necessary. Unlike bone-marrow transplants, cord blood transplants require less exact matches between donors and recipients, and are painless for the donor.
Misconceptions
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One of the most common misconceptions about cord blood banking is that a child's own cord blood can be used for a transplant if he develops a disease later in life. In many cases, diseases that can be treated with cord blood transplants, such as leukemia, are genetic, meaning that the cord blood that is banked at birth already carries the same disease. For this reason, most people who need transplants use cord blood donated by a sibling, or a public cord blood bank. Most cord blood recipients have about a 25 percent chance of matching a sibling and a 75 percent chance of finding a match from a public bank.
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Size
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After birth, the umbilical cord contains about 3 to 5 oz. of cord blood. While this amount is often sufficient for a cord blood transplant in a child, it is generally not enough for a transplant in a child or adult who weighs more than 90 lbs.. For this reason, researchers are investigating ways to multiply the cord blood cells to make them useful for larger transplants. While public blood banks discard cord blood units that are too small for transplants or use them for research, many private cord blood banks store them anyway, at the family's expense, even though they may or may not be usable later.
Considerations
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Parents who are interested in banking their baby's cord blood have the opportunity to store it in a private bank for their family's own use or donate it to a public bank. Although public donation is free and makes the cord blood available to anyone who needs it, it is not available in all areas. In contrast, private cord blood banking generally costs up to $2,000 in initial collection and storage fees, and about $150 a year in storage fees after that. Parents who are considering banking their baby's cord blood should consider how likely they are to need the cord blood, as well as the potential benefits of donating it to a public bank.
Potential
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Researchers continue to develop new uses for stem cells that come from cord blood, as well as from other parts of the body, such as bone marrow, hair, fat and even baby teeth. Since stem cells have the potential to become a variety of specialized cells, they may become useful for repairing nerve or heart damage or curing a greater variety of diseases than those currently treated through transplants.
Expert Insight
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The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that most families who are interested in banking their baby's cord blood should donate it to a public bank. People with a family history of diseases that are treatable with cord blood may want to consider a private bank, to make sure the cord blood is available in case any of the baby's siblings need a transplant. Minorities and people of mixed heritage may have a more difficult time finding a donor from a public bank, and may want to consider either private banking or adding to the public banks.
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