Cord Blood Banking - Private or Public?

If you're expecting a baby, no doubt you have been contacted about or noticed brochures about cord blood storage. Although this is a personal decision that can only be made by the parents, it is one that is worth taking into consideration. When cord blood is banked, it is stored so that at a later time, if needed, it can be used.

There are several key reasons why anyone would want to do this. The main reasoning is quite simple. Cord blood contains very important cells that can help to grow a healthy immune system for someone who may have become ill. These cells can be used in transplants to treat a variety of . Not only can this cord blood be used for the baby who has donated the cord blood, but for others who have the same type of blood and tissue. Therefore it is very valuable.

Some of the most commonly uses for stem cells include treatment for these diseases and conditions:

• Leukemia
• Chronic Leukemia
• Myelodysplasia Syndromes
• Anemias
• Sickle Cell Disease
• Inherited Red Cell Abnormalities
• Lymphomas
• Plasma Cell Disorders
• Neuroblastoma
• Myeloma

Now, here's where the big decision comes in. Do you store your baby's cord blood privately, or donate the blood? Obviously, if you have a family history with a disease which can be treated with stems cells from cord blood, it might make sense for you to store the blood privately for your baby's or other family member's use.

Editor's Note: If you are an expectant family with a child who has an established diagnosis of a disease that is currently treatable with cord blood, you may be eligible to receive ViaCord's premier cord blood banking and five years of storage services at no cost to you. You will need your child's doctor to complete a medical referral form. For more information, you can call toll-free 1-866 861-8435.

You can also store your baby’s blood in a public bank. When you choose to go this route, the baby’s blood is taken from the umbilical cord, stored cryogenically and can be used by anyone who is in need of it. Remember that public banks store it but do not allow it to be labeled, meaning that once it is donated, you can not access it specifically for your child or your needs. Rather it is available to anyone who may need it.

At first glance it might seem like banking the blood privately would have the most benefit to you. But, before you use this as your method of banking the blood, you should know how rare it can be that a child actually needs to use that blood. The Journal of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology determined that the odds of your child needing those stem cells are 1 in 2700. Your family’s odds are 1 in 1400 that you will need to use the blood. In addition, the American Academy of Pediatrics does encourage parents to donate their baby's cord blood to a public cord blood bank. But, again, that decision is up to you.

There is a real need for all types of women, of all ages and ethnic backgrounds to bank blood publicly. Since each ethnicity has their own specific needs, it is more likely that someone who is in need of donated cord blood will be able to find it if someone of their own heritage has donated. This includes people of all backgrounds including American Indian, Alaska Native, Black and African American, Latino, Pacific Islander and Asian.

The decision to donate cord blood is one that only you can make. No matter if you decide to donate to a public bank or pay for private storage, you will want to weigh your choice wisely. Even if you cannot use or do not use the blood from your child yourself, you will likely be able to help someone else with a life threatening condition to benefit from it.

It may help to take a look at some of the advantages and the disadvantages of using private cord banking for your child. This may aid in your decision making.

Advantages of Private Cord Blood Banking

• Cord blood transplants do not require as much of a perfect match between the donor of the blood and the recipient. This is because the stem cells that are located here are more primitive than those that will come from bone marrow or from peripheral blood.
• There is no pain, discomfort or risk involved in harvesting the cord blood from the donor as it is done after the birth of the child, and the umbilical cord will be discarded anyway. On the other side, bone marrow donations are done under pain, anesthesia as well as risk infection of the donor.
• Cord blood is ready whenever you need it, instantly. If you do not have this blood stored, you will need to go through donors on registries, testing them to insure that they are the right match. This can take much longer.
• Cord blood stem cells have the same ability to treat disease as does bone marrow, however, there is significantly less rejection with cord blood.
• If your family is one that has a tendency to have cancers, tissue conditions and other disorders of the immune system, banking your child’s blood now can help prevent her from getting these conditions.
• Those that are of mixed heritage are even less likely to find a matching donor than those that are of one race. If your child is biracial, you may want to consider cord blood banking.

The Disadvantages of Private Cord Blood Banking

• It may be rare that your child will ever need the blood; whereas there are people out there who could benefit from donating the blood to a public cord blood bank.
• The cost. It can be expensive to use a private bank to have particular cord blood stored for your child and your family’s well being. Again, you may never have need of the blood.

Determining whether to go with private or public cord blood storage is not an easy decision. In many cases, it can be quite a hard decision. After all, the “What ifs” really can make you take into consideration where you stand. You should base your decision on your own specific needs and desires.

If you decide to bank your cord blood, you will want to talk to your doctor about doing this by your 34th week of pregnancy to allow for time for processing. You can also contact the local blood bank for additional help in making these arrangements.

If you decide to store the cord blood privately, be sure to choose a cord blood bank accredited by the American Association of Blood Banks (AABB).

If you decide to donate the cord blood publicly, you can find more info on the specifics of doing that at:

http://www.marrow.org/HELP/Donate_Cord_Blood_Share_Life/How_to_Donate_Cord_Blood/index.html 

Synonyms:  Cord blood storage is a synonym of cord blood banking. 

Cored, chord, corred, cold, corde, codr, crod, ocrd, ccord, coord, corrd, cordd, and core are common typos for cord.  Blud, bloud, broud, brood, blod, blodo, bolod, lbood, bblood, bllood, bloood, and bloodd are all typos for blood.