Family Cord Blood Banking Vs Public Cord Blood Storage

Stem cells are a hot topic among the medical community, the government, and expecting parents around the nation. The placenta and umbilical cord blood are valuable sources of stem cells-and typically have been discarded as medical waste. The building blocks of blood and the immune system, hematopoietic (blood-forming) stem cells can replenish themselves and transform into other cell types. This enables stem cells to replace other cells in the body that are abnormal, weakened, or destroyed by disease. Cord blood stem cell transplants have already been successfully performed in more than 10,000 patients with some 80 known diseases, including leukemia and other cancers and other potentially life-threatening diseases and conditions.
A patient who receives a stem cell transplant using stem cells from a family member is recognized as the best treatment option for hematopoietic (blood-forming) reconstitution. In fact, a study in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that the 1-year survival rate for patients treated with cord blood stem cells from a relative was 63%-compared with only 29% from unrelated donors, and that number increases if the transplant recipient is using his or her own stem cells. Current data reflect that those that have been stored for fifteen years have the same ability as they did at the time of storage. Current research involving storage of cells also indicates that the cells derived from cord blood are likely to remain viable indefinitely. But what should expecting parents consider when deciding between family cord blood banking and public donation of their newborn's cord blood stem cells?
In family banks, parents pay the company to process and store exclusively for family use. The family owns the cord blood stem cells, which can be made immediately available to a family member should there be a need. Family banking attracts expecting parents who want the peace of mind of knowing that their newborn's cord blood will be saved and immediately available should a family member need it to treat a potentially life-threatening disease or condition.
In public banks, parents give up all ownership. The goal of a public bank is to collect and store only the largest units for potentially lifesaving transplants. While many expecting parents donate their newborns' cord blood to public banks to help people requiring a lifesaving stem cell transplant, they should be made aware that in some public banks, the criteria for storing collections are so strict that more than half of all donations are discarded and never made available to the public. This is because stem cell experts and transplant physicians agree that many cord blood samples may be too small to be used in lifesaving stem cell transplants because they don't contain enough stem cells. With this concern, members of the medical community have started exploring other rich sources of stem cells with the understanding that patients with access to more stem cells would also have access to improved lifesaving treatments. This research has led to the breakthrough of finding that placenta-derived stem cells, which have the potential to become different types of cells, could be isolated from the placenta with a proprietary technology so that they would be available for potential lifesaving treatment applications. This is process is now known by the medical community as Placenta-Cord banking.
With Placenta-Cord banking, parents pay the company to process and store stem cells derived from the placenta in addition to the stem cells from the cord blood. Like the stem cells found in cord blood and bone marrow, placenta-derived stem cells are non-controversial and free from the political and ethical debate surrounding other types of stem cells. Placenta-Cord banking provides expecting families with the added peace of mind of knowing that they have 2 units of stem cells instead of just 1, as offered by traditional services. This unique combination of placenta-derived stem cells and cord blood collects the most stem cells possible. And access to more CD34+ stem cells has been shown to improve transplant success and patient survival in the treatment of potentially life-threatening diseases and conditions.
Regardless of whether they bank their children's cord blood with a public or family bank, all expecting parents should be made aware of the lifesaving potential of their newborns' cord blood and be encouraged to privately bank or donate rather than allow for such a precious, lifesaving source to be discarded, as is often the case.