Advantages Of Cord Blood Banking
There are several advantages to cord blood banking. It has been proven to be a better alternative than regular bone marrow transplants. This is true especially in children. Sometimes finding a match with a bone marrow donor is impossible. Although it has been around for a while most people believe it is a new idea. Research in this area is rapidly advancing and researchers soon hope to be able to use the cord for several other alternatives as well.
This type of storage was developed in the 1990s. The first documented use of these cells was in the late 1980s to a young boy. His transplant was successful and opened up the doors for more research to begin.
The process of collecting this is fairly simple. The expecting mother should contact the bank we she wants the blood to be stored before her thirty fourth week of pregnancy. When looking for a cord bank there are two options to choose from. The first is a public bank; there is a list of public banks available on The National Marrow Donor Program website. The second is a private bank. Both are similar but the cost and privacy rules tend to be the deciding factors for most. Read more…