The Washington Post on Tuesday examined issues that some parents face when deciding whether to spend at least $1,500 to privately store blood taken from their infants' umbilical cord and placenta for later personal use in medical treatments. According to the Post, cord blood includes stem cells that can be used during transplants, which often are related to blood cancers.
More than two dozen private, for-profit cord blood banks have opened since the mid-1990s, and the banks often market the practice as "just in case" insurance to treat an illness in the infant or close relative, the Post reports. However, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists have expressed some reservations about the practice. ACOG has called on its members to present balanced information about the practice and tell parents that it is unknown exactly how long stored cord blood is viable, the Post reports. A study published last month in the journal Pediatrics -- which surveyed 93 pediatric transplant physicians in the U.S. and Canada -- found that of the thousands of stem cell transplants conducted collectively by specialists involved in the study, only 50 used privately banked blood. Of those 50 cases, only nine involved cord blood going back to the donor -- a practice that is the "chief selling point for private cord blood banking" -- the Post reports.
Steven Joffe, a transplant physician at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute who co-authored the study, said, "In the absence of a family member known to be a candidate for stem cell transplant, the chances that privately banked cord blood will be used are quite small." Frances Verter, founder of the Parent's Guide to Cord Blood Foundation, said the study is a disservice to parents attempting to make a decision about blood banking. She added that physician opposition to private cord blood banking reflects an "entrenched mind-set" that might be harmful to patients. The Post reports that some limitations associated with stem cell transplants using cord blood include the high probability that the blood contains malignant or otherwise damaged cells. Support for public cord blood banking is widespread in the medical community, according to the Post (Boodman, Washington Post, 4/14).
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