Cord blood use
What is the use of cord blood?
Cord blood was first used for transplantation in Paris in 1988. The patient was a boy suffering from a serious genetic disease, Fanconi anemia. The donor of cord blood was his younger sister. Today he is healthy young man and has a family of his own. Since that success cord blood has been used over 20 000 times, not just in children, but in adults too. Read more »
The probability of cord blood use
A recent study published by American scientists calculates that the lifetime probability of needing stem cells for treatment is approximately 1:200 and the probability of undergoing autologous transplantation is approximately 1:400. These calculations were based on the occurrence of each disorder and the frequency of their transplantations. Read more »
Used for another family member?
Cord blood can be used for the child it was collected from, but also for the child’s siblings. Treatment of some diseases required hematopoietic cells from another person - a donor. In these cases an ideal donor is a healthy, compatible sibling. However, for successful transplantation donor must be compatible with the recipient. Read more »
Diseases treated by cord blood
Hematopoietic stem cells transplantation can be used to treat over 80 disorders. Stem cell could be derived from either bone marrow (peripheral blood) or cord blood. Depending on the type of disease the doctors decide whether it's possible to use the patient's own hematopoietic cells or cells from a donor are needed. Read more »
Public or private banking?
Experts from medical fields all agree that cord blood is a valued source of stem cells and, if possible, it should be collected and stored. The following table shows a summary of the differences between banking cord blood privately and donating it for the public use. Read more »