Is Cord Blood Transplantation The Right Choice?

Confused about whether cord blood transplantation is good for you or not? Let me highlight the advantages and disadvantages and you can make your decision based on that.

Advantages

• Stem cells from umbilical cord blood can be easily isolated from the placenta at childbirth. This is an advantage over bone marrow stem cell harvesting as the latter requires surgery.
• Cord blood has a higher capacity to regenerate and produce new blood cells.
• You do not require cord blood transplant from only a family member or from someone whose blood cell type closely matches yours. Cord blood can be stored and used by anyone, even unrelated people. You do not have to wait for a prospective donor to be found.
• Cord blood stem cells are therefore immediately available for use as they can be stored in a cord blood bank. Once cord blood is isolated from the placenta, it is available for use within 3 weeks. It is kept frozen in liquid nitrogen until required.
• Another advantage of cord blood transplantation is that there is absolutely no risk to the donor. So you can donate your umbilical cord blood without fear to be able to save another life.
• The immune cells in cord blood are less likely to attack the patients own tissue as compared to those in unrelated bone marrow donors.
• It is also less likely to transmit certain viruses that cause infection in recipients.
• Studies have shown that cord blood can be stored up to 10 years and still remain viable for transplantation.

Disadvantages

• The main disadvantage is that the volume of cord blood collected is relatively small. Therefore the number of stem cells available for transplantation in cord blood is low compared to those in bone marrow.
• A cord blood transplant may also give the recipient one of the rare genetic diseases of the blood or immune system. Cord blood is tested for common genetic diseases but presently it is not possible to screen the blood for all the rare diseases as well. This occurrence is very rare, chances being less than 1 in 10,000.
• There is one more disadvantage which is considered a minor one. The donor cells come from a newborn infant and collected at the time of birth. Therefore, the donor is unavailable for further donation of cells. The result of this is that if you need more than one unit of cord blood, you will need to take it from different donors.

Cord blood has been successfully used to treat over 70 different diseases so far, like leukemia, anemia, lymphoma and thalassemia. Considering the above factors, it should be easier for you to decide whether cord blood transplantation is a feasible option for you or your family.