Researchers and physicians are always studying more about treating various illnesses. Stem cell transplant has become one of the most promising methods of treatment, using 3 types of cells—those from bone marrow, blood and umbilical cord—to give patients new cells that will grow into healthy ones.
While the first two require a separate donor who must be a close match to the individual who is needing treatment, umbilical cord stem cells are stored from birth to be used later on for the same person’s own treatment, or a family member. This means it does not require close matches as blood and bone marrow stem cell transplants do.
However, there will be lots of decisions to be made when it comes to cord blood banking, especially when you are expecting a baby. Remember that your decision whether or not to store your child’s umbilical cord could potentially have a huge impact on his or her life. Even after you might have already read up on what the method is and why it is important, it can still be a difficult decision for you to make. Fortunately, this task can be made easier by knowing the pros and cons of this method.
List of Pros of Cord Blood Banking
1. Umbilical cord blood can save lives.
Being rich in stem cells that can morph into all sorts of blood cells, umbilical cord blood can be used to treat health conditions that harm your blood and immune system, such as cancer, leukemia, sickle-cell anemia and metabolic disorders. Yes, there are other few ways for transplant patients to get blood cells, from bone marrow, peripheral, circulation, etc., but the easiest way to match with patients is using cord blood. And because blood is gathered from the umbilical cord during birth, it is a painless procedure.
2. It is easy to perform.
Unlike other stem cell gathering procedures that claim to be painless and easy, cord blood banking actually is. The collection would only take a few seconds and is done after the umbilical cord has been cut during birth, so there is no pain for the baby and the mother. Even the delayed cord clamping procedure does not affect the collection, where healthcare providers are recommended not to alter their cord clamping practices.
3. Therapies with cord blood have gotten more successful.
According to the director of the pediatric bone marrow and stem cell transplant program at Duke University, Joanne Kurtzberg, “The outcomes of cord blood transplants have improved over the past 10 years because researchers and clinicians have learned more about dosing cord blood, picking better matches, and giving the patient better supportive care as they go through the transplant.”
4. Stem cell quality is assured.
Did you know that the umbilical cord is one of the richest sources of stem cells? While stem cells can be sourced from bone marrow, getting them from the umbilical cord is much easier to do and far less painful, as previously mentioned. What’s more, cord blood and stem cells will still be just as new as the day they were frozen. This means you will have a higher quality resource of stem cells.
5. Cord blood holds a good promise for future medical procedures.
As of this time, scientists are still studying and learning more ways to treat illnesses with cord blood. For example, researchers at Duke University are using patients’ own cord blood in testing for Hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy and cerebral palsy. At the Sutter Neuroscience Institute in California, trials are also under way for treating autism.
6. Compatibility is guaranteed.
Umbilical cord stem cells are less mature than those collected from adult donors, so transplanting them into the recipient is most probably going to be successful. In addition, the risk of your body rejecting the cells to be transplanted is very rare, since recipients are likely to be using their own stem cells.
7. Your own cord blood will always be accessible.
Take note that this only applies if you pay to store your cord blood in a private blood bank. Your blood will be reserved for your own family, and nobody else can access or use it. Also, it will never be allotted to another family or be donated to research. On the other hand, where you donate your cord blood to a public blood bank, anyone who needs compatible cord blood can have it, and there is no guarantee that it will be available if and when you and your family need it.
8. Chances of more advancement are big.
Storing and saving cord blood is like biological insurance, where you hope you would never need it, though experts say that the chance you will is very low. Nevertheless, it will always be there if you do need it. Plus, who knows what medical advances the future may bring for this technology?
List of Cons of Cord Blood Banking
1. The procedure is not always cheap.
Of course, it is completely free to donate blood to a public cord blood bank, but when it comes to the private ones, it is another story. They would charge you at least USD 1,000 to more than USD 2,000 of fees for the collection, testing and registration. Aside from these, you would also have to pay for the annual storage fee.
2. Cord stem cells do not guarantee to cure everything.
While there were truly miraculous treatments developed for various diseases, stem cell therapy does not guarantee to cure everything. Remember that your child’s own stem cells will not be much of a use if he/she has a genetic disease, since his/her stem cells contain the same genes. For instance, if your child is born with spina bifida or muscular dystrophy, then his/her stem cells would have that condition. However, if the donor is healthy and he/she has immediate family members who have genetic conditions, his/her cord blood could be a good match for them.
3. The donor child may never need it.
Cord blood that is rich in stem cells can be used to treat a range of diseases, but experts estimate that there is only a 1 in 217 chances that the donor your child will ever need a stem cell transplant procedure with his/her cord blood. This is particularly true if he/she does not have a family history of illnesses, such as lymphoma, leukemia or sickle cell anemia. Though it is stated by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) that cord blood has been used for successful medical treatments, there is no solid evidence to back up cord blood banking. So, the AAP recommends that, if a family does choose to bank cord blood, public cord blood banking (rather than private) should cut down on their expenditures.
4. Chances that your family can use the donated cord blood are minuscule.
Chances, where a family member would have his/her cord blood collected and then a close relative would happen to need it, are minuscule. A few samples of routinely collected cord blood have been put to use so far, but most of these samples, which have been used, came from families who knew that another sibling was going to need it.
5. The procedure will not treat everyone.
Currently, most treatments that use umbilical cord blood are done on children simply because not enough stem cells can be obtained to treat adults in most cases. Umbilical cord blood supply is limited, so it would not be sufficient to treat your child if he/she would then need stem cell therapy during adulthood.
6. Most stored cord blood is discarded.
There is a great chance for public cord blood banks to use stored cord blood to help a sick child or support stem cell research. On the other hand, private cord blood banks would eventually throw away blood that a family no longer wants to use or store.
7. It is really not recommended by some professionals.
The AAP and many physicians do not recommend private cord blood banking, unless it is a case where a family member is currently needing a bone marrow transplant or facing a high risk of needing such procedure in the future.
8. Science behind the procedure is not yet sound.
There is science—and then there is also science fiction when it comes to umbilical cord blood banking and what the cells are currently being used for. Of course, the potential of the procedure to cure many diseases is there, but the science that can actually make it so, is not.
Bottom Line
At the end of the day, it is only you who can make the decision of whether or not to store the blood of your child’s umbilical cord. Also, it is a family decision that you should not rush; you should take your time to discuss and weigh out all options that are available to you with your relatives and friends. And with the pros and cons listed above, you can make such task a very well-informed one.