Should i cord blood

All content here, including advice from doctors and other health professionals, should be considered as opinion only. Always seek the direct advice of your own doctor in connection with any questions or issues you may have regarding your own health or the health of others. By Lorie A. Parch October 03, Save Pin FB More. How many public cord blood banks are there? There are 18 public cord blood banks in the U.

Where does this blood come from? Public banks work with individual hospitals. Women who give birth there are asked if they would be willing to donate their baby's cord blood, which would otherwise be discarded. If you donate your baby's blood and a family member needs it, can you get it back?

If no one else has used it, yes. Why aren't more hospitals participating? Collecting, analyzing, and storing the cord blood is expensive. How do doctors get access to the blood? The MDP acts as a clearinghouse for 13 of those public banks. So if a doctor associated with a transplant center needs cord blood to treat someone, she can use a computerized system to scan the inventory of those 13 banks to see what match is available.

She would have to contact the other banks individually. What if there isn't a perfect match? While a perfect match is ideal, lots of people have achieved good outcomes with a close match.

To increase the odds of getting a perfect match, public banks are hoping for federal funding to support the acquisition of more cord blood. Public banks are also looking to diversify their ethnic registry by encouraging more minorities to donate. Parents Magazine. Be the first to comment! No comments yet. Close this dialog window Add a comment. Add your comment Cancel Submit. Close this dialog window Review for. Donor selection for unrelated cord blood transplants.

Curr Opin Immunol. Adult umbilical cord blood transplantation: a comprehensive review. Bone Marrow Transplant. State of the art review: HLA matching and outcome of unrelated donor umbilical cord blood transplants. Bio l Blood Marrow Transplant.

Parents Guide to Cord Blood. Frequently Asked Questions: Are related donors better for transplants? Stem cells from umbilical cord blood do have myogenic potential, with and without differentiation induction in vitro.

J Transl Med. Harris DT. Public banks can be used by anyone who is a match and the units are anonymized, so no one knows the identity of the donor. They are located in Brampton, Edmonton, Vancouver and Ottawa, and you can find out more info here.

Both public and private cord blood banks that process and store cord blood for allogeneic use use for someone other than the donor are required to register with Health Canada and undergo routine inspections. Private cord blood banks that store cord blood for autologous use use by the donor alone are not subject to Health Canada regulations and routine inspections, so do your research before you commit your hard-earned money to one of these programs. Cord blood banking involves collecting cord blood and storing it in a bank for private or public use.

This is the most common source for allogeneic blood stem cell transplants in the world, and the international medical community can help people find donors on these registries. All stem cell registries are connected worldwide and have more than 30 million adult registrants.

Photo: iStockphoto. What is cord blood banking? When did cord blood banking start? How is cord blood collected? What about delayed cord clamping? What can cord blood be used for? What are the odds that my child will need to use their own cord blood?

Can it be used for a family member? What about the use of cord blood in the future? Public versus private banks Private cord blood banks Private cord blood banks store processed cord blood units for use by the family and charge a yearly fee for storage. Public cord blood banks Public banks can be used by anyone who is a match and the units are anonymized, so no one knows the identity of the donor. Joseph Communications uses cookies for personalization, to customize its online advertisements, and for other purposes.

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