The main argument for storing cells in a public cord blood bank is that it increases the potential for patients to find a match and that not everyone can afford private storage. A potential issue with public banks, however, is that they only collect from a relatively small group of hospitals and are unlikely to become involved in collections from "births at home", or smaller hospitals.
More than 90% of families do not have access to a public bank that accepts donations. Other factors also significantly limit cord blood donation eligibility, such as maternal exposure to viruses, tattoos, and international travel. In fact, recent reports from public banks convey that only 30 to 50% of donated cord blood ends up being banked. | | Once donated, the blood is no longer guaranteed to be available to either the baby or its family. Because as with blood banks and bone marrow banks, the cord blood units are made available to the public. Initial processing cost is typically EUR 1,000 per unit stored. Fees to retrieve the sample range from EUR 15,000 to EUR 25,000 per unit.
As a Caucasian, the odds of finding a bone marrow donor are approximately 20,000 to 1. The odds for ethnic minority populations are hundreds of thousands to one, as they are far less represented in the traditional bone marrow donor registries. Cord blood banking improves these odds significantly. |
