Umbilical Cord Blood Banks: Present and Future

Cord Blood Banks, Present and Future

Cord blood banks freeze the blood from your babies' umbilical cords for potential future use against diseases developed by your family. Many serious medical conditions can already be successfully treated by this blood source. Moreover, it is confidently predicted that a plethora of further serious medical conditions will be be able to be cured by the use of the genetic material contained within these cord blood sources. It is well worth evaluating the potential benefits of using a cord blood bank if you are concerned about your family's future health.

Current Uses and Future Potential (including alternative health remedies)

NOW. Bone marrow remains the greatest source for stem cells and circulating blood is also a rich vein to tap. But, neither of these sources is ideal and procedures for bone marrow transplants can be extremely complex, invasive and may entail uncomfortable results for donors. Human embryos provide a possible solution, but are massively controversial and will probably be proved redundant by the use of cord blood genes in any case.

FUTURE. Extensive studies demonstrate that stem cells gleaned from umbilical cord blood have numerous advantages over marrow and circulatory blood derived genes. Bone marrow still heads cord blood for certain current procedures and diseases, but it is generally felt that the pendulum is swinging in favor of cord blood even in these instances.

NOW. Current use of blood stem-cell treatment includes conditions such as sickle cell anemia, immune deficiencies, leukemia, lymphomas and certain cancers, all of which can prove fatal. Bear in mind that, in his or her own case, the use of the donor's cord blood on himself or herself will not necessarily be advisable for some procedures, for example leukemia, due to the fact that it may well simply replace the same genes that caused the disease in the first place. However, other siblings' cord blood, if a good match, will likely not contain the leukemia gene, thus being suitable for transfusion. Nonetheless, all this is hopefully set to change, as you will see below. It seems certain that the cord blood bank industry is set to grow.

FUTURE. The future looks bright for health treatment by cord blood cells, despite its current minority status in the world of transfusions. Scientists are pretty sure that an individual's own cord blood will, at some point, be effective in the treatment of their own cancers. Why is that? Because the majority of adult cancers simply aren't genetically derived, whereas pediatric cancers invariably are.

Researches are also finding ways of manipulating the leukemia gene, so eventually even your own blood may be used to cure yourself, thus making cord blood even more valuable as an insurance against future eventualities.

Scientists are conducting animal experiments which predict that cord blood will ultimately be suitable to alleviate or cure heart failure and strokes, spinal cord problems, diabetes and many grave neurological diseases. The possibilities are potentially limitless, the same as all gene related cures. Even such disabilities as motor function disorders are on the cord blood cure hit list. Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases are also set firmly in their viewfinders.

NOW. At the moment public cord blood banks retrieve a small percentage of umbilical cord blood for use in treatments and research. Many people are electing to store cord blood privately, potentially safeguarding their family against future debilitating and fatal diseases. Most umbilical cords are simply discarded after childbirth. Over 200,000 bags or vials of cord blood are preserved in private and public cord blood banks. To date around 3,800 cord blood transplants have been undertaken. This is perceived as a small return.

FUTURE. However, the actual results look good, so perhaps close on four thousand operations is not a bad return on so many stored units. In any case, as more diseases become treatable using cord blood, the return is set to rocket.

NOW. For the time being, there are normally insufficient stem cells within a stored unit of cord blood in order to be effective on an individual whose weight exceeds around 60 kilos. This means that currently the amount of blood available from an umbilical cord is normally only effective for treatment up to a certain age in a person's life.

FUTURE. But, procedures to increase the frequency of stem cells in one unit of cord blood are being experimented with, in intense clinical trials. These experiments have so far been successfully proven to work in over 100 trials.

In Any Case
The potential of cord blood transfusion in the future seems limitless. But even today, if your family has an historical instance of sickle-cell anemia, leukemia, lymphomas, immune system deficiencies, aplastic anemia or thalassemia, plus many other related conditions, the probability of someone in your family requiring a stem cell transplant is well above that of the average family. Private storage of cord blood becomes a much more appealing option the more children you decide to bear. The future is looking good for umbilical cord blood banking as a sensible insurance against disease and disability.