Top 10 reasons why you should consider banking umbilical cord blood

1. 1 in 217 individuals¹ may need a hematopoietic stem cell (HSCs) transplant by the age of 70.
2. Up to 75% Chance of Genetic Match For Siblings² .
3. Research showed that patients have a lower chance of complications in transplants when they receive stem cells from a relative³.
4. Some of the most common cancers, such as leukaemia and lymphoma, are treatable with stem cell transplant.
5. A guaranteed match for autologous transplants (where the donor and recipient are the same individual).
6. A readily available supply of stored hematopoietic stem cells -- this is a better option than having to do a national or international search which is costly and time-consuming given an already time critical situation.
7. Lower risk of Graft vs. Host Disease (GvHD) for allogeneic transplants, a situation where the transplanted tissue attacks the patient’s own tissue.
8. Umbilical cord blood stem cells are younger, have a higher rate of engraftment and are more tolerant to tissue mismatches, compared to other types of stem cells, e.g. bone marrow.
9. Ease of collection, which is pain-free and risk-free to both mother and child.
10. It is once-in-a-lifetime chance to collect cord blood – a readily available source of HSCs when needed in the future.

Sources:
¹Nietfeld JJ, Pasquini MC, Logan BR, et. al. 2008 Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation. 14:316-322.
² Jawdat D, Saleh S, Sutton P, Anazi H, Shubaili A, Tamim H, et al. Chances of Finding an HLA-Matched Sibling: The Saudi Experience. ScienceDirect. 2009;15(10): 1342-1334.
³ Wagner JE, Steinbuch M, Kernan NA, et. al. 1995. The Lancet.346:214-219 Kurtzberg J, Laughin M, Graham ML, et. al. 1996. New England Journal of Medicine. 335:157-66.