What is the difference between a public bank and a private banks?
When you donate cord blood to a public bank, it is available on the Be The Match® Registry and available to any patient in need of a transplant. There is no cost to donate your baby’s cord blood to our public bank. Public banks follow strict quality assurance and FDA regulations, and will only bank cord blood if it is sterile and contains enough stem cells to use in treatment.
When you store your baby’s cord blood in a private cord blood bank, you pay collection and ongoing storage fees and it is reserved for your use only. As the cord blood is being saved for personal use, private banks are not required to follow the same quality and sterility guidelines as a public bank.
Private companies will bank and store any amount of cord blood, even if it does not contain enough stem cells to use in transplant.
Will my baby’s cord blood be stored at BWH?
No. The BWH Cord Blood Donation Program will collect your baby's umbilical cord blood. The BWH Cord Blood Donation Program works with a public cord blood bank that is affiliated with the NMDP. Click here to learn more about the NMDP at Dana-Farber.
What do the experts think about public versus private cord blood banking?
While ultimately a personal decision, experts recommend public banking unless there is a known family need:
- American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) issued recommendations in 2017 encouraging parents to donate to public cord blood banks unless they know that a family member/older child could benefit from cord blood transplantation. The Brigham and Women's Cord Blood Donation Program will also facilitate a direct donation to a family member.
- The American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (ASBMT) recommendations encourage expectant parents to donate their newborn’s umbilical cord blood to public banking.
If it turns out my family does need the cord blood, can I retrieve it from the bank?
Yes! Though it is possible to retrieve, cord blood donated to a public bank may not be available for use if it has already been matched to a patient in need, or if there was not enough cord blood collected to use in treatment.
The Brigham and Women's Hospital Cord Blood Donation Program facilitates direct donation, so if you have a family member who is in need of a cord blood transplant, you may contact our Donation Coordinators to learn more.
FAQs
Public banks follow strict quality assurance and FDA regulations, and will only bank cord blood if it is sterile and contains enough stem cells to use in treatment. When you store your baby's cord blood in a private cord blood bank, you pay collection and ongoing storage fees and it is reserved for your use only.
Is private cord blood banking worth it? ›
Although privately banked cord blood is not likely to help your baby, it may help a sibling who has an illness that could be treated with a stem cell transplant. These include leukemia, sickle cell disease, Hodgkin's lymphoma, and thalassemia.
How much does private cord blood banking cost? ›
If parents choose to store their infant's cord blood in a private bank, a collec- tion fee that ranges from $900 to $2000 and an annual storage fee of approximately $90 to $150 may be required. Fees vary between private banks. How do we decide whether to donate?
How much does it cost to get cord blood from a public bank? ›
Public banking
When you donate your baby's umbilical cord for public use: It's available to any patient in need of a transplant; it is not reserved for your family members. There is no cost to you because public cord blood banks cover the fees associated with processing, testing and storing donated cord blood.
Does insurance pay for cord blood banking? ›
Some insurance providers will cover the cost of cord blood banking when collection is medically necessary. For example, depending on the provider, families with a history of leukemia or other blood disorders may be eligible for total or partial coverage of the costs of cord blood collection and storage.
Is it ethical to have private cord blood banks? ›
Nonetheless, collection and storage of cord blood raise ethical concerns with regard to patient safety, autonomy, and potential for conflict of interest. In addition, storage of umbilical cord blood in private as opposed to public banks can raise concerns about access to cord blood for transplantation.
What are the cons of cord blood banking? ›
Disadvantages of Umbilical Cord Blood Stem Cells
- Slow engraftment.
- Limited cell dose. — Small volume of unit. — Additional cell doses unavailable.
- Autologous donation may have limited benefit owing to hereditary disorders.
- Storage issues. — Unknown length of long-term storage. — Cost related to long-term storage. —
Here's a sample of what banks will want to know to determine eligibility: I am 18 or older. I am not related to the baby's father by blood (i.e., first cousins) In the last 12 months, I have not had any tattoos or ear, skin or body piercings where shared or non-sterile inks, needles, instruments or procedures were used ...
What do hospitals do with placenta? ›
Do Hospitals Keep Placentas? Hospitals treat placentas as medical waste or biohazard material. The newborn placenta is placed in a biohazard bag for storage. Some hospitals keep the placenta for a period of time in case the need arises to send it to pathology for further analysis.
Why not donate cord blood? ›
One study says the chance that a child will use their cord blood over their lifetime is between 1 in 400 and 1 in 200,000. The stored blood can't always be used, even if the person develops a disease later on, because if the disease was caused by a genetic mutation, it would also be in the stem cells.
After your baby is born, the umbilical cord and placenta are usually thrown away. Because you are choosing to donate, the blood left in the umbilical cord and placenta will be collected and tested. Cord blood that meets standards for transplant will be stored at the public cord blood bank until needed by a patient.
Which cord blood banking is best? ›
The 7 Best Cord Blood Banks of 2023
- Best Overall: Cord Blood Registry (CBR)
- Best Value: Americord.
- Best Customer Support: Cryo-Cell.
- Best Variety and Flexibility: StemCyte.
- Best for Families With Medical Conditions: Viacord.
- Best for Placenta Banking: Lifebank USA.
- Best Processing Time: MiracleCord.
The benefits of cord blood
Cord blood is an important alternative to bone marrow for transplantation because it contains all the natural elements of blood and is rich in blood-forming stem cells, which are similar to those found in bone marrow but do not require as close a match between the donor and recipient.
What are the different types of cord blood banks? ›
The two types of banks that store cord blood are:
- Public banks: These process and store umbilical cord blood donations for public use or for research. Once donated, it's unlikely that the cord blood will be available for future private use. ...
- Private banks: These store cord blood for personal use by the family.
Public cord blood banking supports the health of the community. Public banks collect qualifying cord blood donations from healthy pregnancies and save them in case one of them will be the match to save the life of a patient who needs a stem cell transplant.
