It helps to have information about cord blood banking provided in the light of the good and the bad. Sure, it sounds like the ideal way to protect your child. But, is it really the right thing for you to do? Take a look at some of the advantages and the disadvantages of using cord banking for your child. You may be able to make your decision about it better then.
Advantages
• Cord blood transplants do not require as much of a perfect match to between the donor of the blood and the recipient. This is because the stem cells that are located here are more primitive than those that will come from bone marrow or from peripheral blood.
• There is no pain, discomfort or risk involved in harvesting the cord blood from the donor as it is done after the birth of the child. On the other side, bone marrow donations are done under pain, anesthesia as well as risk infection of the donor.
• Cord blood is ready whenever you need it, instantly. If you do not have this blood stored, you will need to go through donors on registries, testing them to insure that they are the right match. This can take much longer.
The Disadvantages
• During the process of engraftment, the process for the cord blood to be used, there is more time needed for results to be seen, because the stem cells can be so primitive and new. During this time there is an increased risk of infection and threat on the life of a potentially fatal condition.
• Right now, it is only possible for a child or a small sized adult to use cord blood transplants because there is not enough stem cells in cord banking for the larger sized adult.
• It can be expensive to use a private bank to have particular cord blood stored for your child and your family’s well being.
Determining if the banking of cord blood is for you is not easy. In many cases, it can be quite a hard decision. After all, the “What ifs” really can make you take into consideration where you stand. Yet, the process is growing into popularity as more and more people are finding success in the process of using these stem cells. Those that are looking at this from their point, should consider both public and private banking options and make a decision based on their own specific needs and desires.