The cost for using commercial cord blood banking companies, however, can be substantial. That bag is then kept in a freezer until the time comes, if ever, when it is needed and can be infused as a transplant. Cord blood is also easy to collect: At the time of delivery, after the cord is cut, the remaining blood in that cord is milked out into a collection bag. Coming from an infant at the time of birth, they should be uncorrupted by cancer (emphasis on the should, as we’ll see in a moment). The umbilical cord attaching the developing fetus to its mother’s placenta is rich in those juicy bone marrow stem cells that are so effective at making the blood components. Banking cord blood in case a bone marrow transplant is needed in the future is appealing on so many levels. Indeed, in the U.S., the practice of storing umbilical cord blood is steadily on the rise. My patient then asked me a question I have been hearing more and more over the years: “Should my daughter save the cord blood in case our grandbaby needs it, in case he or she develops cancer?”īrochures for these companies line Plexiglas display cases in obstetrics offices, with pamphlets exhorting nervous, expectant parents to protect their baby from the medical evils that lie ahead. I explained to them that the baby’s cord blood was unlikely to be a close enough match to my patient, as my patient’s daughter would only be a half-match for him, and her baby less than that. “She wanted us to ask if she should save the baby’s cord blood in case he needs it for a transplant.” “Our daughter is pregnant, and her due date is next month.” She started, glancing at my patient as he nodded his head in agreement. Hearing this, my patient’s wife interjected. While we could wipe out any residual leukemia in his bone marrow with high-dose chemotherapy and replace his fresh bone marrow from a healthy person, we may not be able to find a good bone marrow “match.” Another potential option: We could use umbilical cord blood from a newborn, which is rich in the stem cells normally found in the bone marrow, and which recent studies have shown may not need to match as closely as is necessary for a marrow donor. The phrase “bone marrow” transplant was a bit of a misnomer, though. This article is adapted from Mikkael Sekeres’s book “ When Blood Breaks Down: Life Lessons from Leukemia.”
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