Cord Blood Limitations as a lifelong Medical Insurace

1. diseases which require transplantation of blood Stem Cells are still rare, although the list of diseases amenable to such treatment is steadily growing. They are very rare among children and become more common in adults.
2. Banked Cord Blood only provides insurance for so long as the frozen cells are still viable. So far, research has confirmed the long-term viability of Cord Blood for up to 15 years, but the existing literature on cryogenic storage of living cells indicates that storage for decades is feasible.
3. The banked Cord Blood only provides insurance if there are enough Stem Cells in the collection for a successful transplant, even after the baby grows up to become a much larger adult. However, there is research in progress on several methods to transplant large adults with small cord blood colletions.
4. Even among adults, where “autologous” transplants of the patient’s own Stem Cells are more common, there are alternate sources of Stem Cells in the patient’s bone marrow or circulating blood.
5. Many regenerative medicine therapies are being developed which use the patient’s own Stem Cells. For example, one of the most common and promising is the use of stem cells for heart repair. Adult patients who have banked cord blood would have a ready source of stem cells for regenerative medicine. But again, they also have a rich source of stem cells in their bone marrow. Research in progress will clarify if the stem cells in cord blood are better than those in bone marrow for regenerative medicine applications.

When parents bank the cord blood from a new baby, in the near term they are most likely providing medical insurance for that child’s siblings, and only in the long term when the donor grows up will they have value for self-use.