Ban Khwao Health

Cord blood banking is the term that is being publicized to expecting parents. They are told about the benefits of blood cells from umbilical cord and how they can be used on children, if they have autoimmune diseases in the future. Cord blood banking is proclaimed as a life saver. They stress about the importance of cord blood banking to secure the child’s health with such measures.

But the truth is, not all of these proclamations are correct. These claims are half true, while half of them are cleverly hidden or manipulated for parents. Treatment part played by these blood cells is 100 percent true, while storing the same for the child is the glitch. It is very rare that even a far relative’s body will accept these blood cells.

These blood cells have 6 HLA, and it is considered to be a match when at least 2 HLA’s are the same. A sibling will be able to accept such blood transplants. But there are occasions, wherein sibling HLA’s do not match at all. Everything depends on how these HLA’s are distributed to children from each parent.

So, when being lured into biological safety of a sibling, or child, it’s important to understand private cord blood banking, may not be very fruitful. Use of blood cells on the child for treating a disease is not recommended, or approved by doctors. Reason stated is the presence of infectious cells in stored sample, which might do more harm than good.

Whether to store blood cells, or not is a private decision, but knowing the pros and cons of cord blood banking, is helpful in taking a decision. Doing research will give adequate knowledge, though experts can be consulted for better understanding. Parents have responsibility of child’s future, but paying unnecessarily for cord blood banking that may, or may not be useful in the future is a waste of effort and money.

Charitable organizations are teaching the advantages of public cord blood banking. This is similar to private hospitals, wherein these blood cells are stored, but without a family tag, provided tests show that these samples are free of diseased cells. Few hospitals provide to test samples and store for personal use after they test negative. One should know, when treating an adult, single umbilical cord does not yield enough blood cells. Nevertheless, one can go ahead with cord blood banking for future use.