When you are considering donation of cord blood, it will be very helpful to learn some cord blood banking pros and cons. There are several pros that we could list down. One advantage is that we are adding cord blood availability in the cord blood bank for future use and for the advancement of the technology. We know very well that the stem cells found in the cord blood have been found to be a cure for a lot of regenerative health conditions. Another advantage is that it does not cause any harm to your baby or you as the mother. The umbilical cord after the cutting will just be treated as by product waste of delivery along with the placenta. It might as well be utilized by harvesting cord blood from it.
Another pro in cord blood banking pros and cons is its very simple process of collection. It can be done by the OB-GYN physician that is assisting the delivery. A needle is inserted to the vein of the cord and remaining blood is collected through a catheter that is attached to the blood bag. Once collected, the blood is brought to the cord blood bank for testing and cryopreservation. Another advantage for your child is that there is an available stem cell for him or her if the time will come that he or she needs one. This is in cases where the child will require an autologous transfusion.
One disadvantage in the cord blood banking pros and cons is the cost of private blood banking. Private blood banks require a substantial fee of around $2,000 for collection and testing. And an annual fee of around $125 for cryopreservation. This is due to the fact that private blood banks are profit oriented. Despite that fact, you don’t have a choice if you intend for that cord blood to be used by your own baby in the future. Donating cord blood through public cord blood banks should not cost you any amount. But the donated cord blood will be available for use by just anybody who needs it.
These cord blood banking pros and cons are intended to educate us about cord blood banking. The pros still outweighs the cons. By all means, once we have a chance, we should be able to donate cord blood. There are enumerable possibilities for this relatively new medical invention. Everyone should take part as it may become a very important discovery for the future of medicine.