As Cord Blood Awareness Month draws to a close we will be taking a look at the differences between banking cord blood in a family bank and donating cord blood to a public bank.
Because cord blood banking in the UAE does not yet have the profile it deserves, there are still many misconceptions surrounding the different ways in which you can store your baby’s cord blood.
Cord Blood Facts:
•As of 2024, public cord blood banks worldwide held more than 800,000 donated cord blood units accumulated over many years[1], despite there being approximately 132 million births globally in that year alone[2].
•Global modelling studies show that the probability of finding a fully matched unrelated donor varies widely by ethnicity, and could be as low as 16%.[3]
•Your baby’s cord blood is a perfect stem cell match for your baby.
•In Saudi Arabia, the donor registry would need to grow more than 13× to achieve high-probability matches for most patients.[4]
What is Cord Blood Donation?
When you donate your baby’s cord blood you are giving it away; it could be used for a variety of things. It could be used for research to advance or discover therapies for illness or disease. It could also be used to save the life of a stranger in need of a stem cell transplant. However, you would have no say in how the cord blood you donated is used; that would be the decision of the cord blood bank you donated it to.
In the UAE, public cord blood donation is available but it is not widely offered across all maternity hospitals and is typically limited to selected participating facilities and programmes. This means that, in practice, only some births will be eligible for donation, depending on where you give birth and whether trained staff and collection services are available at that time.
The criteria for donating cord blood is strict; it is not compatible with home births, delayed clamping or with any birth where the baby is born before 37 weeks exactly. If you meet the criteria and are able to donate cord blood, once it has been donated it is irretrievable. Cord blood is donated anonymously, which means should your baby need it in the future you will not have access to it. However, in the event your baby needs a stem cell transplant in the future, the best possible match would be found via the public registry.
It is also worth considering that cord blood which is donated is not used for the wide variety of treatments that privately stored cord blood is. Donated cord blood is generally limited to the treatment of blood disorders, metabolic conditions, and cancers. Regenerative therapies are not currently available with donated cord blood units.
However, while cord blood donation has restrictions to how it can be used, it is free of change and could still be used to save the life of someone in need.
What is Family Cord Blood Banking?
Family banking is a completely different service to cord blood donation. When choosing to bank your baby’s cord blood in a family bank it will be stored for the exclusive use of your baby and your baby’s family. You will have complete control over your baby’s cord blood sample. When choosing to store cord blood in a family bank, you can choose a variety of settings to give birth. In the UAE, private cord blood banks work in partnership with a wide network of approved hospitals, meaning families can arrange collection at the time of birth in participating maternity units across both public and private healthcare settings. Family banking is also compatible with caesarean sections, home births, multiple births and even with births where the mother wishes to delay cord blood clamping.
In addition to flexibility when giving birth, family cord blood banking also offers a wider variety of uses. Cord blood stored in a family bank can be used in regenerative therapies. It is worth noting that a 2014 review of 530 reported autologous cord blood transplant cases found that 82% were used in brain-related conditions, including cerebral palsy and anoxic brain injury. [4] Anoxic brain injury is a form of acquired brain injury happens when the brain is deprived of oxygen, while a traumatic brain injury is caused by external forces affecting the head or brain, such as a blow, fall or collision.[5]
Family banking remains the only way to ensure access to the full range of approved therapies and clinical trials.
While there is a charge for family banking this is negligible for the peace of mind and medicinal access that it offers. You can find out more here.
References
[1] Research and Markets. (2024, March 12). Global cord blood & tissue banking industry report 2024: The vast majority of the global cord blood market is now controlled by the world’s 10 largest cord blood banking operators. PR Newswire. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/global-cord-blood–tissue-banking-industry-report-2024-the-vast-majority-of-the-global-cord-blood-market-is-now-controlled-by-the-worlds-10-largest-cord-blood-banking-operators-302086774.html [2] Ritchie, H., & Mathieu, E. (2023, January 5). How many people die and how many are born each year? Our World in Data. https://ourworldindata.org/births-and-deaths [3] Gragert, L., Eapen, M., Williams, E., Freeman, J., Spellman, S., Baitty, R., Hartzman, R., Rizzo, J. D., Horowitz, M., Confer, D., & Maiers, M. (2014). HLA match likelihoods for hematopoietic stem-cell grafts in the U.S. registry. New England Journal of Medicine, 371(4), 339–348. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMsa1311707 [4] Armstrong, A. E., Fonstad, R., Chaudhury, S., & others. (2017). Current knowledge and practice of paediatric providers in umbilical cord blood banking. Clinical Pediatrics, 57(2). https://doi.org/10.1177/00099228176923 [5] https://www.spinalcord.com/blog/contrasting-a-traumatic-and-anoxic-brain-injury
