HEALTHNET

Know More about Umbilical Cord Blood - Insurance against Future Diseases?

Cord blood is the baby's blood that remains in the placenta after birth. It contains "stem cells", which are immature cells with the capacity to replicate and differentiate into other cell types.

(Posted on 12 July 2007)

Expecting parents have a lot of important decisions to make: Caesarian or natural birth, breast or formula feeding, to circumcise the baby boy or not. There is a new addition to the long list-what to do with the cord blood, to save it up as "biological insurance" just in case the child may develop a serious disease that can make use of it, or to discard it as medical waste?

Why is cord blood seen as "biological insurance"?

Cord blood is the baby's blood that remains in the placenta after birth. It contains "stem cells", which are immature cells with the capacity to replicate and differentiate into other cell types. Cord blood transplantation from a sibling was first used to treat a rare type of congenital anemia in 1988. In 2007, the first case report of one's own cord blood being used to treat acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in the same patient is published in the journal "Pediatrics". The 3-year-old girl had ALL that relapsed despite conventional treatment. Fortunately, the parents have stored her cord blood in a private blood bank. After successful transplantation, she is now 6 and is still free from the disease.

There have been over 6000 successful cord blood transplants worldwide. Most patients received cord blood donated from siblings or public blood banks, not the patients' own cord blood to treat various conditions such as leukemia, congenital anemia, bone marrow failures, disorders of the immune system, and inherited metabolic disorders. Expecting parents are often persuaded by sales people to make a "once in a lifetime" decision to collect and store the baby's cord blood for a long list of future diseases. The American Academy of Pediatrics issued a statement in January 2007 warning physicians against unsubstantiated claims of private cord blood banks made to future parents. Many childhood diseases, including leukemia, have a genetic basis. Some authorities worry that there is a risk of recurrence if stem cells of the same genetic material are used. You might have heard a lot about stem cell research. Stem cells from discarded human embryos are not the same as the stem cells in cord blood. Although scientists are finding ways to trick cord blood stem cells to behave like embryonic stem cells to differentiate to other tissues, such as cells of the brain, pancreas and liver. The technique is still highly experimental.

Store the cord blood, and that's all?

In America, the majority of the privately stored cord blood, when retrieved, is used for treatment of diseases in siblings or family members. None of the four private cord blood banks in Hong Kong have records of clients retrieving their blood for medical use as reported in 2006. So the chance that your child would benefit from such a "biological insurance" is extremely low.

And remember, such an "insurance policy" only promises to pay out cells in a bottle. If you could barely afford the cost of private cord blood banking, it would be very unlikely that you can pay for the procedures to make use of the stem cells, unless you also upgrade your child's health insurance.

Source: Quality HealthCare