Posted on 12/02/2004 8:03:39 AM PST by elisabeth
Wish your baby well.
How long can you bank blood? I thought all blood had an expiration date.
Donate it. It costs too much to store. You're more likely to help someone who actually needs it.
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).
why can't you do both?
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.
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.
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Potential uses in the future:
http://www.viacord.com/index.asp?p=25
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Go read the information at the site and THEN make your decision. If you have the money, do it.
No one knows how long the frozen blood will be viable. The technology has only been in existence for approximately 10 years.
Have we invented a new type of "frozen"?
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
That definitely is a bit cooler than my mom's freezer back then, or mine even today.
Liquid N2 at -196.
77K in egghead jargon.
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
For NJ Residents
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1224342/posts?page=17#17
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