But what does it mean to bank your cord blood, why would someone choose to do it, and what are the benefits and drawbacks of banking cord blood? We answer those questions and more in today’s blog about cord blood banking.
What Is Cord Blood Banking?
Cord blood is the blood that remains in the umbilical cord and placenta after you deliver your baby. What’s unique about this blood is that it has a high concentration of stem cells. These stem cells have the ability to become mature blood cells, including red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. This blood can come in extremely handy down the road if your child or a family member develops certain health issues.
In most instances, you can decide to store your cord blood at a private facility for a yearly fee. It will remain at this facility until you either need it or you no longer wish to store it, at which time it may be donated, used for medical research or discarded.
The Benefits Of Cord Blood Banking
Banking your cord blood could prove helpful down the road if you, your child or a family member develop certain health conditions. And while cord blood isn’t always a catch-all type of cure, the stem cells inside the cord blood can be helpful in treating a variety of conditions. Cord blood has been used for nearly 30 years during transplants, and it can also be helpful in treating more than 70 different health conditions, including certain types of cancers, blood diseases, immune disorders and metabolic issues. It is also being studied for uses in managing cerebral palsy and type 1 diabetes.
Umbilical cord blood has 10 times more stem cells than what is found in bone marrow, making it much more efficient in helping treat a variety of health issues. Considering that it can be extremely helpful for the right person, it may seem like a no brainer to bank your cord blood. Before you make a decision, let’s take a closer look at some of the potential drawbacks of banking your cord blood.
Cord Blood Banking Drawbacks
If you are considering storing your cord blood at a private blood bank, there are some things you’ll want to know before you move forward with a decision. For starters, doing so will be an added expense. Every private institution is different, but you can usually expect to pay about $200 per year or more to have your cord blood safely stored at a private facility.
And while your first reaction may be that you cannot put a price on your child’s health, you should also note that it’s highly unlikely that your child would need or be able to benefit from your cord blood. For starters, it’s quite rare that a child would develop a health condition that would benefit from cord blood, but it certainly does happen. However, it’s very unlikely that your stored cord blood would be right for your child. For example, if your child is dealing with a condition that is caused by a genetic mutation, your cord blood won’t be effective in helping to treat the condition because this mutation will exist within your cord blood stem cells. The same also tends to be true for certain cancers like leukemia.
It’s much more likely that your child will benefit from someone else’s cord blood than from the blood you bank. For example, data suggests that there have been roughly 500 cord blood transplants using an individual’s own cord blood over the last two decades in the US. However, there have been more than 60,000 unrelated donor cord blood transplants worldwide during that same period. Your cord blood could prove beneficial, but it’s incredibly unlikely that it will be helpful for your own child.
Because of this, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association recommend against the private storage of cord blood as a form of “biological insurance” simply because the benefits are too remote to justify the associated costs. Similarly, the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists and the American Academy of Pediatrics believe that private cord blood banks should only be considered when there is a sibling with a medical condition who could benefit from a relative’s stem cells.
At the end of the day, the decision about whether or not to bank your cord blood is up to you and your family, but know that it shouldn’t be viewed as “stem cell insurance” for your own child because their cord blood probably would not prove useful for their own issue. Public donation is certainly an option worth considering, and we’d be more than happy to talk with you about that process or any questions you have about private storage if you’re considering it.
For more information about cord blood banking, or to talk to a specialist about a different women’s health issue, reach out to the team at MetroPartners OBGYN today at (651) 770-3320.