Advantages And Disadvantages: Cord Blood Banking

Parents to-be face an interesting dilemma of whether or not to do cord blood banking of their unborn child. There are several advantages to storing umbilical blood of the newborn as it has proven to be life-saving in many cases where the child had life-threatening conditions and there is lot of research still going on. So, the decision to save umbilical blood is not difficult to take. The harder decision is whether to store it in a private cord blood bank or public set up. The implications of this decision are not apparent now but will be borne out only years or decades later.

Here in this discussion we will try to lay thread bare the pros and cons of saving your baby's umbilical blood with public banks and private banks and tackle all the issues surrounding this delicate subject.

Public Cord Blood Banks - The Advantages

1. When you donate the baby's umbilical blood to the public banks, it is collected and stored for free. No charge to you.

2. This a free service offered by the government and so the blood donated becomes public property and is offered to whoever needs it and at no cost to that person.

3. As a public entity the bank makes the donated stem cells available to research labs.

4. Any person can request for umbilical blood stored in the public banks for their legitimate use.

5. If you plan on donating the umbilical blood the doctor collecting the blood will not charge for their service.

Disadvantages Of Public Cord Blood Banking

1. Due to the large number of public banking projects supported by the government, it is difficult to the get the right match at the right time.

2. Every citizen is entitled to the donated blood stored in public banks, hence there is no guarantee that you will get the umbilical blood of your baby if and when you need it.

3. The chances of rejection are higher for transplantation done using non-related donors. When you use public banks the chances are high that your body might reject the donated stem cells.

4. Once the umbilical blood is donated it becomes the sole property of the bank. The donor has no rights over it.

5. The banks will decide who will receive the donated stem cells. The bank will not consider any request to store the blood donated by you for your exclusive use.

6. Even with public cord blood banks, to the donor does not pay any money for collection and storage, the end-user will have to pay about $5000 dollars as processing and storage charges. This can be deal-breaker for many, particularly if the insurance companies do not pay for it.

7. Finding perfect matches for transplantation or treatment of rare conditions or genetic diseases is tougher when trying to get it from a public cord bank. This is especially true for minorities.

Advantages Of Cord Blood Banking

1. As you pay for collection and storage of the blood done with a private setup is reserved exclusively for your family's use.

2. When times comes you don't have to look for compatible donors as the donated blood is all yours and no one has any claim over it.

3. The risk of rejection from stem cells transplanted using close relative's donated blood is more acceptable to the body and the risk of rejection is very low.

4. There is higher success rate for transplants done with private umbilical blood donated by close relative compared to public banks.

5. The ownership of donated blood remains with your family.

6. You choose the beneficiary of the donated blood.

Disadvantages Of Private Cord Blood Banking

1. When transplantation is autologous, then donated cord blood is of little use. A related donor's stem cells are of better value.

2. Collection and storage charges of private banks can be very high and out of reach of many folks.

3. Most insurance will not cover the costs of collection and storage of this blood. Only when there are genetic disorders do insurance companies pay for such storage.

B. Columbo, is interested in cord blood banking and has written articles to help lay persons understand the different options available. For the detailed article on Cord Blood Banking Costs. Click here. His articles are featured on Cord Blood Banking and other websites.

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