Cord Blood: Saving or Using Your Baby?

Last month, a popular medical show spotlighted a parent’s urgency for "miracle" cord blood. The fictional parents have a sweet eight-year-old boy whose life is being cut short by leukemia, and the mother is six months along with another bundle of joy that should be bringing them happiness. Clouded by their obvious attachment to their son, the fate of the child still in the womb is of no matter when they ask for an induced pregnancy so they can save their son with cord blood. The episode ends with the mother going to extreme measures with a knitting needle to get thrown into emergency care while the reluctant doctors deliver the tiny baby in order to help save their son. Regardless of the problems that can occur with premature delivery  there was no guarantee that either of their kids would be saved in the end. An enormous amount of research has gone into cord blood, and is not without controversy.

Collected by a syringe or gravity bag minutes after birth, the umbilical cord blood holds stem cells that contain the keys to potentially unlocking many diseases through a transplant that enhances cells within the body. Containing red and white cells, platelets, liver cells and nerve cells, cord blood holds all of the “master” ingredients needed for healthy cell growth. Cord Blood Registry (CBR), the leader in banking cord blood storage facilities has stored over 240,000 newborns’ stem cells and have had the most transplant experience with 98 blood samples from families for use in lifesaving operations. Building a reputation comes at a hefty price for parents looking for a place to store their get-out-of-cancer-free card at an initial fee of $2,150, with an annual storage fee of $125 a year, but CBR guarantees this rate not to change for 18 years.

With the recent news about stem cells from umbilical cord blood being used to grow heart valves, and the possibility of using menstrual blood stem cells as an alternative to embryonic stem cells, stem cell cord blood seems like a necessary, life-saving cure for over 70 diseases from bone marrow disorders to certain cancers and immune system failures, but there is still controversy surrounding this process. Certain organizations and religions oppose embryonic stem cell research because it uses an embryo that will never make it into a uterus in order to become a fetus. Whether or not an embryo is a person is the great debate and if potentially saving your baby’s life is worth the death of an embryo for harvesting stem cells is a question only you can answer.

There are lots of questions: public versus private banks, the ethical debate, and whether or not the umbilical cord blood is safe to use on the same newborn born with a disorder. Public banks, like the National Institute of Health-sponsored banks offer a place to store cord blood but the stored vials are not guaranteed for specific babies like private cord blood banks.

Most of the questions surrounding the umbilical cord collection and storage have to deal with the safety of the baby attached to the cord. Some myths have been floating around that the cord blood from the newborn is not safe to transplant back into the newborn if he or she has been diagnosed with a critical illness because the stem cells might be infected as well. However, research published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology has shown that newborns up to 12 months that have been diagnosed with a critical illness are still recommended for transplantation with their own stem cells.

A recent news story video shows a baby sucking a pacifier and sitting quietly on the couch while his parents calmly tell their story to the smiling morning newscaster, old home videos show a struggling infant that constantly cries and is eventually diagnosed with cerebral palsy (CP) and undergoes a clinical trial procedure in order to save his life. The boy’s life now is significantly better showing lesser signs of the disorder with marked improvement of his brain function and physical reactions. Although expensive and controversial, stem cell research and cord blood registries so far seem to have a positive effect on the diseases with potential down the line to prevent late-in-life diseases like Alzheimer’s, heart disease, and Parkinson’s. Whether televised fictional parents dealing with leukemia or a real-life mom and dad trying to conquer CP, only time will tell the progress of a newborn’s cord blood.