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Need opinions on whether or not to bank baby's umbilical cord blood.

Posted on 12/02/2004 8:03:39 AM PST by elisabeth

I would like to solicit opinions on whether I should save the umbilical cord blood of my baby-to-be, who will arrive a few months from now. I am debating between donating the blood to a public bank versus banking it for potential use for my child or another family member.

I have come to the conclusion that there is such a small probability that my baby (or someone in our family) would ever be able to use the blood that it may make more sense to donate it. On the other hand, I could never forgive myself if my child needed the blood in the future and I had donated it. A third consideration is that I myself would take advantage of donor blood if it were available, and so perhaps I should donate the blood in hopes that someone else could use it.

I would very much appreciate your opinions on the ethics of this situation, and I would like to hear what other freepers would do (or have done) in this situation, since I value everyone's opinions here!

I should also mention that donating is free or cheap, whereas private banking is about $1000-$1800 up front and about $100 a year. While we don't have tons of money, we could probably afford the collection and storage fees for private banking, although I do feel they are a bit high.


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: cordblood; stemcell; umbilical; umbilicalcord; umbilicalcordblood
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To: Phantom Lord
Our Grandbaby's cord was donated Nov 12th.

Wish your baby well.

41 posted on 12/02/2004 2:12:28 PM PST by Deguello
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To: elisabeth

How long can you bank blood? I thought all blood had an expiration date.


42 posted on 12/02/2004 2:20:00 PM PST by Dog Gone
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To: elisabeth

Donate it. It costs too much to store. You're more likely to help someone who actually needs it.


43 posted on 12/02/2004 2:43:46 PM PST by Paleo Conservative (Hey! Hey! Ho! Ho! Dan Rather's got to go!)
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To: Dog Gone

Most of the companies offering the service say that the stem cells from the blood can be used from 10 to 15+ years after collection (and perhaps longer, although they probably don't have enough data to make 100% certain claims at this point).


44 posted on 12/02/2004 4:50:13 PM PST by elisabeth
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To: elisabeth

why can't you do both?


45 posted on 12/02/2004 4:51:33 PM PST by ejdouglas (Send Michelle Moore to Canada!)
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To: elisabeth

So are they separating the stem cells from the blood and storing them, or storing the blood itself? I guess I need to talk to my wife who works blood bank at a local hospital, but I have the impression that donated blood is discarded within months if not used.


46 posted on 12/02/2004 4:54:48 PM PST by Dog Gone
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To: ebt; elisabeth
In case you haven't seen the latest news, a paralyzed South Korean lady is walking again due to umbilical cord stem cells...

Technology in this area is advancing slowly but steadily. In ten years, research may have advanced to the point that all types of diseases can be cured with cord blood, for all we know.

My point is this: Consider it insurance for not only your child, but for you and other members of your family. Frankly, I don't understand why people don't do this as a matter of routine if they have the money to do it.

Current uses for cord blood:

http://www.viacord.com/index.asp?p=26

Cord blood stem cell therapy has already been
 used in the treatment of these diseases: *

CANCERS

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL)
Acute myelogenous leukemia (AML)
Burkitt's lymphoma
Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML)
Juvenile chronic myelogenous leukemia (JCML)
Juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML)
Liposarcoma
Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS)
Chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML)
Neuroblastoma
Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma
Hodgkin's lymphoma
Langerhan's cell histiocytosis

BONE MARROW FAILURE SYNDROMES
Severe aplastic anemia 
Diamond-Blackfan anemia 
Dyskeratosis congenita 
Fanconi anemia 
Amegakaryocytic thrombocytopenia 
Kostmann's syndrome 

HEMOGLOBINOPATHIES/BLOOD DISORDERS
Sickle-cell anemia 
ß-thalassemia (Cooley's anemia) 

INBORN ERRORS OF METABOLISM
Adrenoleukodystrophy 
Batten disease (inherited neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis) 
Gunther disease 
Hunter syndrome 
Hurler syndrome 
Krabbe disease (globoid cell leukodystrophy) 
Lesch-Nyhan disease 
Maroteaux-Lamy syndrome
 
IMMUNODEFICIENCES 
Omenn's syndrome 
Severe combined immune deficiency (SCID and SCID-ADA) 
Reticular dysplasia 
Thymic dysplasia 
Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome 
X-linked lymphoproliferative disease 
Leukocyte adhesion deficiency 

OTHER DISEASES
Evans syndrome 
Familial hemaphagocytic lymphohistiocytosis 
EBV-assoc. hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis 
Osteopetrosis 

* Although the potential use of umbilical cord blood is
 expanding rapidly, the odds that a family without a 
defined risk will need to use their child's umbilical cord 
blood are low. There is no guarantee that the umbilical 
cord blood will be a match for a family member or will 
provide a cure. Autologous cord blood stem cells will not 
guarantee suitable treatment for all inherited genetic 
diseases. As with any transplant therapy, therapeutic 
success depends upon many factors beyond the stem cells 
themselves including patient condition, type of disease,
recipient-donor relationship and matching, and other 
factors.

========

Potential uses in the future:

http://www.viacord.com/index.asp?p=25

==========

Go read the information at the site and THEN make your decision. If you have the money, do it.

47 posted on 12/02/2004 5:12:48 PM PST by nitzztin
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To: Dog Gone
How long can you bank blood? I thought all blood had an expiration date.

No one knows how long the frozen blood will be viable. The technology has only been in existence for approximately 10 years.

48 posted on 12/02/2004 5:14:20 PM PST by nitzztin
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To: nitzztin
I'm about 50 years old, and freezers were in existence when I was born. In fact, we were just perfecting TV dinners at the time.

Have we invented a new type of "frozen"?

49 posted on 12/02/2004 5:24:07 PM PST by Dog Gone
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To: Dog Gone

I'm not up on the technology behind cryopreservation, but here's something from the viacord.com website:

"After testing, your baby's cord blood unit is cryopreserved in cryoprotected blood bags at -196 degrees Celsius."

Unless your 50-year-old freezer could reach -196 degrees, I'd say the answer to your question was "yes." :-D


50 posted on 12/02/2004 5:31:06 PM PST by nitzztin
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To: nitzztin

That definitely is a bit cooler than my mom's freezer back then, or mine even today.


51 posted on 12/02/2004 5:34:22 PM PST by Dog Gone
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To: nitzztin

Liquid N2 at -196.

77K in egghead jargon.


52 posted on 12/02/2004 9:54:53 PM PST by demecleze
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To: nitzztin
I was of the impression that all you can do with cord blood is what you can do with bone marrow.

In addition, from the studies that I have read (I read a lot of journals), there has not really been a demonstrated advantage for cord blood instead of bone marrow. Besides the possible diseases that may come from the marrow donor and such.

Does anyone know if there are other ways you can use cord blood besides as marrow?
53 posted on 12/02/2004 10:04:25 PM PST by demecleze
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To: elisabeth

For more details about cord-blood storage and donation, visit these sites:
New York Blood Center: www.nybloodcenter.org
National Marrow Donor Program: www.marrow.org
A Parent's Guide to Cord Blood Banks: www.parentsguidecordblood.com


a most precious gift
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1245644/posts


54 posted on 12/19/2004 2:10:55 PM PST by Coleus (I support ethical, effective and safe stem cell research and use: adult, umbilical cord, bone marrow)
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To: elisabeth


For NJ Residents

http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1224342/posts?page=17#17


55 posted on 12/19/2004 2:12:49 PM PST by Coleus (I support ethical, effective and safe stem cell research and use: adult, umbilical cord, bone marrow)
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