![]() Ask for a copy of the bank's policies and procedures. Look for a bank that has tested and stored many cord blood samples and whose samples have been used successfully in transplants. Private banking: If you decide to bank your baby's cord blood, make sure that the blood bank you use is approved by a reputable regulatory agency, such as the American Association of Blood Banks. Although many treatments work well, others may be unproved or may even be dangerous. If your child tests positive for a gene that will cause a disease, you may decide to use treatment, if available, to prevent the disease or to make it less severe.This information may also affect your relationships with other family members. Learning that your child is likely to develop a serious disease can be scary or depressing.What you learn from a genetic test can affect your life and that of your family in many ways. If you bank or donate your baby's cord blood, it will be tested for genetic and infectious diseases. Pregnancy and childbirth are emotional times, so learn all you can ahead of time. It is very unlikely that anyone in your family will ever need your baby's cord blood.ĭoctors worry that the advertising done by private cord blood banks may make some parents feel guilty if they do not want or cannot pay to store their baby's cord blood. Stem cells from cord blood are not as mature, so the transplant patient's body is much less likely to reject them. One reason why donations to public cord banks are so valuable is that stem cells from cord blood do not need to be as perfectly matched for a transplant as do stem cells from adult bone marrow. Most transplants of cord blood stem cells use cord blood donated by others to public banks. It is not known how likely a child is to need a transplant of his or her own cells, but experts say the chances are very small. Be wary of banks that urge cord blood banking for this reason. Some of them suggest that parents should save the cord blood in case the baby should one day need a stem cell transplant. If you donate the cord blood to a public bank, the cord blood can be used by anyone who needs it.ĭuring your pregnancy, you may get ads or brochures from private cord blood banks. Private banks charge a fee to store cord blood for your family's use. You may save your baby's cord blood in a private bank or donate it to a public bank. Cord blood banks freeze the cord blood for storage. The blood is drawn from the umbilical cord after the cord has been clamped and cut. But the blood inside the cord can be saved, or banked, for possible later use. The umbilical cord is usually thrown away after birth. Cord blood stem cells are rarely used to treat adults, who normally need more stem cells than cord blood has. For now, though, treatment is limited to diseases that affect blood cells.Ĭord blood kept in a private bank is usually used to treat disease in a brother or sister. Much research is being done to see if stem cells can be used to treat more problems. Stem cells from the child's own cord blood often cannot be used, because they may have led to the disease in the first place. When healthy stem cells are transplanted into a child who is ill, those cells can grow new bone marrow cells to replace the ones destroyed by the disease or its treatment. This can make them valuable for treating some diseases.ĭiseases that can be treated with stem cell transplants include leukemia, Hodgkin's disease, and some types of anemia. These cells have the amazing ability to grow into many different kinds of cells, like bone marrow cells, blood cells, or brain cells. Collecting the cord blood does not cause pain.Ĭord blood is the blood left in the umbilical cord after birth.It is not a decision you can make at the last minute. If you want to save the cord blood, you must arrange for it ahead of time.You will pay a starting fee of about $1,000 to $2,000, plus a storage fee of more than $100 a year for as long as the blood is stored. Private cord blood banking is expensive. ![]() You probably won't be able to use the blood, but it could be used for research or for another child. You might consider donating the cord blood to a public bank instead.Doctors recommend that you bank your baby's cord blood only if a family member already has one of these illnesses. These include leukemia, sickle cell disease, Hodgkin's lymphoma, and thalassemia. Although privately banked cord blood is not likely to help your baby, it may help a sibling who has an illness that could be treated with a stem cell transplant.If your baby were to need stem cells, he or she would probably need stem cells from someone else rather than his or her own stem cells. Doctors do not recommend that you bank cord blood on the slight chance that your baby will need stem cells someday.
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