Banking on Baby
health
Posted By MARILYN LINTON
"Do you want to bank your baby's umbilical cord?" asking a pregnant woman this question would have been science-fiction territory 30 years ago. Well, welcome to the future. Today, you can bank not only your child's umbilical cord blood, but also the cord tissue.
Cord what, you ask? And why do that?
When a baby is born, the umbilical cord which attaches him or her to the mother is filled with blood that contains special stem cells. After the umbilical cord is cut, the cord blood can be professionally stored and, if the child develops a serious disease, the stem cells in the cord blood can be transplanted to treat some of these illnesses.
The first cord blood transplant was successfully performed in 1970 to treat a teen with leukemia; since then cord blood stem cells have been used to treat a wide variety of blood, bone, genetic and immune system diseases in kids.
Until about a decade ago, scientists would draw the blood out of umbilical cords and throw away the actual cord tissue, explains Dr. Ian Rogers, a scientist at Toronto's Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute at Mount Sinai Hospital. "Almost 10 years ago a number of research labs discovered that there are valuable stem cells in the umbilical cord tissue itself."
Cord tissue, it was eventually discovered, yields a supply of a certain type of stem cell that differs from cord blood cells. According to the Cord Blood Registry, a U.S. company that banks blood and tissue for 436 Canadian families, cord tissue stem cells create structural and connective tissue, while cord blood stem cells can turn into all of the cells in the body's blood and immune system.
Families today who give serious thought to banking their baby's cord blood and or cord tissue think of it like insurance.
"If there's a history in the family of a disease that can be treated by cord blood or umbilical cord tissue, then the families generally do it," Dr. Rogers says. Cord blood and cord tissue are two good sources of cells, he adds. "There's a good chance they'll be a good match for someone in the family and a definite match for the person who donated them."
Cord blood cells can be used to treat everything from cancers to more than 20 kinds of nonmalignant diseases. The treatment field is growing; blood and tissue cells have the potential to treat everything from diabetes to cerebral palsy, from heart repair to cartilage regeneration.
Cord blood works better than bone marrow in transplants, says Dr. Rogers.
"With the bone marrow registries, about half the people who need a bone marrow transplant cannot find a match and may die. The success rate for cancer treatments is better with cord blood than bone marrow."
Despite its potential for saving lives, only an estimated 3% of mothers bank their baby's cord tissue and/or blood. The reason may be its cost: The Cord Blood Registry charges $2,100 CAN for collection, processing and handling, then $125 CAN per year for storage. It seems a lot -- yet families easily put ten times that into kids' hockey.
But it isn't only money that holds people back. Though blood and tissue banking is becoming better understood, the banks are not regulated and there is still conflicting information, especially on the Internet. (A list of banks worldwide, plus credible information, a comparison of costs, questions to ask about shipping and handling, lab testing and accreditation can be found at www.parentsguidecordblood.org.)
And healthy parents ultimately ask themselves, "What are the chances my child would need this?" Childhood cancer is not what you think about when a healthy baby is born. And many of the uses of this rich resource are still experimental: Dr. Rogers' lab used umbilical cord blood cells to help regain hind limb mobility in rats with spinal cord injury. Rats are not people, critics say. For every 2,500 cords stored, it's estimated that only one is called on for transplant.
"When (cord blood and or cord blood tissue) gets thrown out, it's a wasted resource and some-one's life can depend on it," says Dr. Rogers, who stresses that the range of diseases that can be treated by stem cells continues to grow with research.
"It's easy to collect and easy to store. Everyone should do it."
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Banking basics:
Doctors, hospitals and midwives have information on reputable cord blood banks. For more information, go to: The Society of Gynecologists and Obstetricians of Canada, www.sogc.orgNew York Blood Center, the largest public cord blood bank in the world, supplying one-third of the world's unrelated cord blood transplants, www.nybloodcenter.org.
Parent's Guide to Cord Blood Foundation -- this site, run by a physician, updates its list of banks (there are about 150 around the world) and educates parents as to what to look for, www parentsguidecordblood.org.
How it works:
There is no pain or risk in collecting and it takes 10 minutes. Once collected, cord blood or tissue is labelled
and shipped to the bank where they undergo safety testing, antigen typing and cryopreservation at very low temperatures.
Some samples may be rejected if there is bacterial contamination, blood clots, problems in labelling or not enough information. Currently, expiry dates vary but may be up to 18 years. When a child needs a stem cell, the physician contacts the bank which co-ordinates the shipping.
Choosing a cord blood bank:
"You want a company that focuses on cord blood and/or cord tissue banking and not other kinds of tissue banking," says Dr. Ian Rogers. Also choose a company that has a track record in terms of being in business a while and having had successful transplants. "The bank has a key part to play in making sure the sample is stored properly. The ultimate test is if they have had successful transplants. It tells you they know what they are doing as a bank."
响香港, 目前有5-6間公司可以提供儲存臍帶血服務, 當中有三間較多人熟識 (CRYOLIFE, CordLife, HealthBaby), 其他兩間並不是只專注臍血儲存服務。 而只有CRYOLIFE曾經有本地成功個案, 開業亦最耐。
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