Your Guide to Umbilical Cord Blood Banking |
In other words, how much Cord Blood is needed to be confident of a successful transplant? The crucial thing is not the volume of the blood sample, but the number of Stem Cells it contains. These are measured with a stain “CD34+” that picks out all mononuclear cells, including Stem Cells.
The “optimal (transplant) dose […]
YES! Unless your family has special medical issues, most parents don’t know which of their children have matching HLA tissue types. Your child’s HLA types come in pairs; in each pair, one is from the mother and one is from the father. The odds of siblings being a perfect match are 1 in 4. A […]
Of Course! Since the year 2000 there have been dramatic medical advances in the arena of Stem Cell research, and more are announced every month. See the latest press releases under “News Reports”. Highlights:
Transplant science is constantly improving.
Several companies are bringing to market methods of “expanding” the Stem Cell population in the laboratory, and these […]
Table 1. Cross Race Probabilities for HLA matching This table displays the mean probability that patients of the indicated race will find a 6/6 HLA-A,B,DR match from amongst a registry of 500,000 donors composed entirely of the indicated race. Reference: copied from the article, “Impact of racial genetic polymorphism upon the probability of finding an […]
The probability that the average child will require a transplant of her own Stem Cells before age 20 has been estimated as 4 in 10,000 (.04%). Reference: Dr. F. Leonard Johnson, Oct1998; & Marrow Transplant Newsletter, issue #43, Oct. 98, vol.9 no.3; originally published: FL Johnson, 1997; J Ped Hem Onc 19(3): 183-186 However, over […]
Because it costs money. Whereas a bone marrow registry is just a data base of potential donors, a Cord Blood bank consists of freezers full of frozen blood and staff to maintain them. In an ideal world, all babies would have their Cord Blood harvested at birth (with parental permission) and stored in public registries, […]
Birth is a one-time opportunity to help society by donating your child’s Cord Blood to a public bank. There are three sources of Stem Cells for transplant patients: bone marrow, circulating blood, and umbilical Cord Blood. The first two exist in all healthy adults, but Cord Blood can only be harvested and stored at birth. […]
Answer: YES. The most miraculous cures always seem to come from parts of the world with little medical oversight. Does this mean the USA FDA is too strict or the claims are bogus? Judge each case for yourself. Examples: Using a child’s own Cord Blood to treat cancer: The advertising of private Cord Blood banks […]
Answers: There are so many YES/MAYBE answers that they have to be enumerated. Cellular Cardiomyoplasty This is a new field of medicine in which Stem Cell transplantation is used to repair or regenerate damaged heart muscle. Animal studies have shown that Stem Cells from bone marrow can survive in dead heart muscle and improve its […]
Answer: Yes. Traditionally, patients with severe hereditary disorders of the immune system were given a Stem Cell transplant to replace the defective gene. This is kind of like fixing a broken transmission by replacing the whole car. Plus, while the patient’s hereditary disorder may be fixed, there are new medical problems associated with […]