©Pregnancy bliss 2008
Umbilical Cord Blood Banking
Umbilical cord blood banking has been with us for several years now. The new twist o the phenomenon is the explosion of private cord blood banking all around the globe. In the United States where this started, it costs anything between $1000 and $2000 for the service. Usually there is also an annual fee of around $100 – 200. In the UK, where this is relatively new, the private companies charge in the range of £1000 to £1600, with or without an annual fee, not much different from the pricing in the US.
Cord blood contains Stem Cells. This means they carry the potential of treating patients afflicted with a variety of haematological, immunological and metabolic diseases. There is also a lot of research activity in their potential to treat degenerative diseases mostly associated with aging. Cord blood stem cells have been used successfully to treat a number of very serious diseases including some forms of leukaemia.
In Britain, the National Health Service (NHS) Cord Blood bank was established over
a decade ago in 1996. There are dedicated hospitals in the country where trained
staff collect cord blood from donors. Individuals who enrol to donate undergo a health
check to ensure the collected blood does not have potential to cause harm to any
future recipient. Donation is free. The collected blood is available to any suitable
patient in the country or anywhere else in the world. There are many similar schemes
in other countries and close collaboration of their work to maximise availability
of this life-
The major difference between those established schemes and private cord blood banking is that the latter is being promoted specifically for the potential benefit of that child or their sibling sometime in the future. It is a form of insurance or so it is suggested.
So what are the issues to consider?
High Risk families
In some cases, a child may have an inherited genetic disease where stem cell transplant may be the only remedy possible. Some such families have been encouraged to get cord blood from a newborn sibling to see if it turns out to be a tissue match for the older afflicted sibling. In some very rare cases, a child is planned via assisted conception technique which enables biopsy of the embryos created to choose one with a tissue match for the needy child. That embryo is then put back into the womb and with a successful pregnancy and delivery, cord blood is collected for the stem cells to be used to treat the older sibling. This service is not yet available in the UK and such families have to travel to the United States for part of the treatment.
Low Risk families
The flourishing commercial cord blood banking services are directed at the general
low-