Cord blood banking: 8 things you need to know
Stem cells could be invaluable to the future health of your family.
The miracle of bringing life into the world can continue long after giving birth if parents choose to store blood from their newborn baby’s umbilical cord and placenta.
In utero, the cord transports nutrients from the placenta to the baby and, while the cord and placenta are usually discarded, blood from the cord can be extracted and stored in a medical facility for future use.
Initially used for infants, stem cell transplants have been used more radically over time with Superman‘s Christopher Reeve advocating for their use after a horse-riding in accident in 1995 left him paralysed, and more recently with patients being cured of HIV.
Due to complications with PCOS, TV celebrity Ash Pollard stored her first daughter’s stem cells after she was born in September 2020 saying that she and partner Pete see it as “An investment in our baby’s future”.
The decision to donate or store cord blood cells are specific to each family but, if your curiosity is piqued, here are eight things you need to know about cord blood banking.
Cord blood banking is carried out to future proof against later illness and disease.
1. What is it cord blood?
Cord blood is taken from a newborn baby’s umbilical cord and is extremely high in blood stem cells, those which form the basis of all blood cells – red, platelets and white. Commonly found in bone marrow, stem cells can continually make new blood cells in the body and can be used to combat life-threatening diseases.
While a bone marrow transplant requires finding a matching donor who meets very specific criteria, cord blood is far more versatile. It can be frozen and stored for more than 20 years and used an as alternative to help combat serious illness and disease without the need for a rigorous and extensive search for a match.
2. How is it harvested?
After delivery of the baby, when the umbilical cord is cut, about 100ml of blood is collected from the cord vein. This is neither harmful nor painful for mother or child, and doesn’t interfere with the normal birthing process, whether vaginal or c-section.
3. What illnesses can cord blood be used to treat?
As with bone marrow transplants, cord blood can be used in the treatment of serious health conditions and diseases such as compromised immunity, leukaemia, blood disorders and anaemia. Infants and children were primarily treated using these stem cells, but over time adults have been able to benefit too. Over the past 25 years, more than 35,000 cord blood transplants have been carried out worldwide.
4. Is the collection foolproof?
No. The collection might fail for a number of reasons, including not getting enough cells in the collected sample or if there’s a blood clot.
The umbilical cord is dense in vital stem cells that continually regenerate.
5. Is cord blood banking legal?
Yes, collecting and storing cord blood is legal in Australia and can be undertaken through the public system for anonymous public use for those in need, or privately with a facility such as Cell Care.
6. What is a cord blood bank?
Cord blood banks use sterile equipment to collect the blood samples before freezing them in nitrogen for up to 25 years.
7. Can I donate my cord blood?
Yes, you can donate to a public cord blood bank, but only at a few hospitals in Australia. Certain criteria has to be met including the mum-to-be providing consent, share their medical and travel history and agree to donate a blood sample for an infectious disease screening around the time of delivery.
Women carrying multiples can’t donate, for example, and cord blood for public use in Australia is stored by three public cord blood banks as part of AusCord: Sydney Cord Blood Bank (Sydney) 02 9382 0371; Queensland Cord Blood Bank (Brisbane) 07 3163 2665; BMDI Cord Blood Bank (Melbourne) 03 9345 5834.0
8. What is a private cord blood bank?
Families may choose to pay for a baby’s cord blood to be collected and stored for the exclusive use of their family, if required in the future. Private banking involves a collection fee and an annual storage fee. Arrangements for collection can be made at hospitals all over the country.
