[2] The policy of the American Academy of Pediatrics states that "private storage of cord blood as 'biological insurance' is unwise" unless there is a family member with a current or potential need to undergo a stem cell transplantation.
[6] Private storage of one's own cord blood is unlawful in Italy and France, and it is also discouraged in some other European countries.
The American Medical Association states "Private banking should be considered in the unusual circumstance when there exists a family predisposition to a condition in which umbilical cord stem cells are therapeutically indicated.
However, because of its cost, limited likelihood of use, and inaccessibility to others, private banking should not be recommended to low-risk families.
Cord blood is also a source of mesenchymal stem cells, which can further be differentiated to form connective tissues, bones and cartilage.
An adequate cord blood collection requires at least 75mL in order to ensure that there will be enough cells to be used for a transplantation.
[citation needed] After the collection, the cord blood unit is shipped to the lab and processed, and then cryopreserved.
There is no consensus yet on optimal procedures for these cord blood cells, although many cryopreservation strategies suggest using dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), slow or controlled rate cooling, and rapid thawing.
The first clinically documented use of cord blood stem cells was in the successful treatment of a six-year-old boy afflicted by Fanconi anemia in 1988.
[3] Subsequently, with the arrival of newer techniques such as haploidentical transplantation, there has been a trend away from cord blood as the stem cell source.
Before the advent of haploidentical bone marrow transplantation, cord blood's lack of requirement for an exact genetic match made it easier to provide patients samples from unrelated donors.
[1] One important obstacle facing public banks is the high cost required to maintain them, which has prevented more than a handful from opening.
Because public banks do not charge storage fees, medical centers do not always have the funds required to establish and maintain them.
Only nine cases involved giving cord blood back to the donor, a practice known as autologous transplantation and the chief selling point for private cord-blood banking.Private banking is typically costly to parents and not covered by insurance.
The policy of the American Academy of Pediatrics states that "private storage of cord blood as 'biological insurance' is unwise" unless there is a family member with a current or potential need to undergo a stem cell transplantation.
Private storage of one's own cord blood is unlawful in Italy and France, and it is also discouraged in some other European countries.
"[3] Using one's own cord blood cells might not be wise or effective, especially in cases of childhood cancers and leukemia.
[22] In 2024, the New York Times described problems with microbial contamination as well as low-volume samples that did not have adequate stem cell counts.