Cord Blood Banking
Cord blood is the blood that remains in the umbilical cord and placenta following birth, which is usually discarded. Cord blood banking uses external facilities as a place to store and preserve your baby’s cord blood.
Umbilical cord blood stem cells can be used in transplants to treat a variety of pediatric disorders including leukemia, sickle cell disease, and metabolic disorders. Patients who need a cord blood transplant can currently try to find a match with a sibling or from an unrelated person. An autologous (self) transplant can also be done if a child's umbilical cord blood has been stored in a private cord blood bank, although you wouldn't do that for conditions like leukemia because of the genetic risk of the leukemia being in the cord blood too.
There are usually two fees associated with cord blood banking. The first is the initial fee which includes enrollment, collection and storage for at least the first year, and the second is an annual storage fee. The initial fee will range from $900 to $2100 depending on the predetermined period of storage. Annual storage fees beyond the initial storage fee are approximately $100.
Empirical evidence that children will need their own cord blood for future use is lacking. There also is no evidence of the safety or effectiveness of autologous cord blood transplantation for the treatment of malignant neoplasms. For these reasons, it is difficult to recommend that parents store their children's cord blood for future use.
There are many companies offering this service . Some of their websites are listed below:
http://www.cordblood.com/
http://www.viacord.com/
http://www.alphacord.com/
Umbilical cord blood stem cells can be used in transplants to treat a variety of pediatric disorders including leukemia, sickle cell disease, and metabolic disorders. Patients who need a cord blood transplant can currently try to find a match with a sibling or from an unrelated person. An autologous (self) transplant can also be done if a child's umbilical cord blood has been stored in a private cord blood bank, although you wouldn't do that for conditions like leukemia because of the genetic risk of the leukemia being in the cord blood too.
There are usually two fees associated with cord blood banking. The first is the initial fee which includes enrollment, collection and storage for at least the first year, and the second is an annual storage fee. The initial fee will range from $900 to $2100 depending on the predetermined period of storage. Annual storage fees beyond the initial storage fee are approximately $100.
Empirical evidence that children will need their own cord blood for future use is lacking. There also is no evidence of the safety or effectiveness of autologous cord blood transplantation for the treatment of malignant neoplasms. For these reasons, it is difficult to recommend that parents store their children's cord blood for future use.
There are many companies offering this service . Some of their websites are listed below:
http://www.cordblood.com/
http://www.viacord.com/
http://www.alphacord.com/
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