Cord Blood
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 all other types of blood cells.
These other types of blood cells can be used to combat a variety of diseases that attack
the immune system from leukemia to a number of other diseases.
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.
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? 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.
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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