With all of the things to consider during pregnancy, it can be difficult to wade through all of the information from various companies wanting to sell something. To save parents the trouble of doing research on the benefits of cord blood banking, here is a list of some of the top reasons to bank umbilical cord blood.
Cord Blood Banking Is Not Invasive
One of the easiest and least invasive ways to access stem cells is through obtaining the baby's umbilical cord blood immediately after birth. Stem cells extracted from bone marrow is difficult, invasive and costly. Stem cells extracted from embryos continue to elicit debate and controversy.
Baby's Cord Blood Can be Used Later in Life
Should the infant become sick later in childhood, the cord blood extracted after birth is a perfect match for the baby and can be used to treat a host of illnesses and diseases.
Stem Cells Can Treat Many Diseases
Some of the life-threatening diseases that stem cells (via cord blood) can treat include various types of leukemia, aplastic anemia, Non-Hodgkins lymphoma, Hodgkin's lymphoma, sickle cell anemia, Hunter's syndrome, Tay-Sachs disease, just to name a few. Other ways that cord blood transplants have been used is in treating traumatic brain injuries.
Cord Blood Companies Report Many Successful Transplants
Statistics obtained from one of the major cord blood banking facilities, Viacord, indicates that 85% of the transplants of cord blood were successful in treating the disease and resulted in the survival of the patient. This is good news for parents who may have questions about the success rate of treatment available from umbilical cord blood.
Cord Blood Can be Used for Siblings, Family Members
If the family member or sibling is a match from the original donor, the cord blood can also be used to treat the same diseases or illnesses. Transplants using cord blood from a family member have twice the success rate as unrelated stem cells from a public banking facility.
Cord Blood May Treat Other Diseases Such as Cerebral Palsy
Cord blood companies disclose that cord blood may be used in the future to treat even more diseases. Current areas of cord blood research include treating cerebral palsy and juvenile diabetes. This is yet more evidence that the uses for umbilical cord blood will continue to grow in the future.
Cord Blood Can Also be Donated
Some companies and facilities provide free cord blood donation kits if parents are interested in providing this rich resource of stem cells for other families. For more information, talk to the birthing facility where you plan to give birth or contact your national marrow donor program.
References:
Viacord
National Marrow's Donor Program
Brenda Lane - Brenda Lane is a published author, Lamaze certified childbirth educator, DONA certified birth doula and approved birth doula trainer.
Join the Conversation