Cord Blood Banking
Private and Public Storage
Every year, more than 10,000 adults and children are diagnosed with life-threatening diseases such as leukemia or lymphoma for which a marrow, stem cell or cord blood transplant may be their best or only hope of a cure. Approximately 70 percent of these patients are unable to find a suitable donor match within their family and must search for an unrelated donor.
The umbilical cord and placenta you leave behind in the delivery room contain a small amount of blood – blood that is rich in stem cells. These stem cells, like the cells found in bone marrow, are a viable resource to treat a variety of blood-related diseases. Unless a mother expresses her desire with her physician to store the cord blood, the life-saving materials are discarded.
Collecting the cord blood and placenta poses no risk to the newborn or mother. Immediately after a baby’s delivery the umbilical cord is clamped and the blood remaining in the cord and placenta may be collected, tested, processed and then frozen for storage. Caregivers will not alter the normal birthing process in any way to collect the cord blood and the average time for cord blood collection is around 5 minutes.
Prior to delivery families may choose whether to store the cord blood unit in a private or public cord blood bank. Private cord blood banks are available for parents who wish to save the unit for their own use. If you store the cord blood in a private bank, it is reserved for your own family members. Private cord blood banks are available throughout the country for anyone. You are charged a fee for the collection and an annual fee to store the umbilical cord blood. Those who choose to donate their child’s cord blood unit to a public cord blood bank are giving hope to the thousands of patients who search for a stem cell match each year. Public cord blood is available to any patient in need of a transplant and is not reserved for your family members. There is also no cost to the donor and it is collected under strict quality standards to ensure suitability for transplantation.
In order to donate cord blood, you must:
- Deliver at a hospital that offers a donation program.
- Contact the cord blood bank by the 34th week of pregnancy.
- Pass eligibility requirements including health history.
Once a viable cord blood unit is taken, the unit is registered on the National Marrow Donor Program's Be The Match Registry, which has more than 100,000-registered umbilical cord blood units. Only the cord blood unit will be listed by number; no name is associated with the donation and no identifying information is ever exchanged between a cord blood donor and a cord blood transplant recipient.
The decision to privately or publicly donate your cord blood should be evaluated on your family’s beliefs and values. You should take into account your family medical history, in particular whether any diseases run in your family that may be treated with stem cells in the future.
To learn more about donating your child’s cord blood please call your local private or public cord blood bank. You have the power to help save a life.