Should You Bank Umbilical Cord Blood?

Williams was five months pregnant. Christian's medical team explained to her that by saving the stem cells from her newborn's umbilical cord blood, there was a good chance that those blood-forming cells could be used to help cure her older child. In a best-case scenario, healthy stem cells could be transplanted, replacing Christian's unhealthy ones.

Noah was born in January 2004, and the Williamses banked his blood with Cord Blood Registry, a private bank based in San Bruno, Calif. It was a perfect match. In March 2004, Christian received the transplant. Today, he's a healthy six-year-old who just started first grade.

Christian's experience would seem to make an airtight argument for banking umbilical cord blood. But while the procedure holds promise for some, the price tag is high. So high, in fact, that for many parents, the choice not to do it makes much more sense.

The Appeal
Stem cells from umbilical cord blood can be used to treat a variety of childhood — and in some cases, adult — illnesses, ranging from certain types of cancer to rare blood disorders. The most common uses for banked stems cells are in treatments for leukemia and other blood cancers and sickle cell anemia. In most cases, the stem cells are used on a sick sibling, but in rare instances the stem cells can be used on the donor patient. And unlike fetal stem cells, there's nothing controversial about saving cord blood, since the child isn't affected.

The first stem-cell transplants were performed during the late 1980s. The New York Blood Center, which has the oldest and largest public cord-blood bank program, started collecting donated cord blood in 1992. Private cord-blood banks soon followed. As of September 2004, 280,000 mothers had paid to bank their baby's cord blood privately, while nearly 80,000 mothers had donated cord blood.

The Cost
Private cord-blood banking is expensive. It usually costs about $1,500 to $2,000 upfront to save the blood, and $100 or more a year to store it.

And many of the private banks are for-profit institutions that aggressively market their services. Expecting parents are bombarded with brochures at their doctor's office and in maternity shops. Baby magazines are full of advertisements. As one brochure puts it: "If you don't save your baby's cord blood today, you may be passing up the best medical treatment option for tomorrow."

Such heavy-handed pitches anger some doctors. "The whole field should be carefully evaluated from an advertising standpoint," says Dr. Bertram Lubin, director of medical research at Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute in Oakland, Calif. "[People] are not given scientifically accurate information." He argues that while many of the claims in the brochures aren't entirely false, parents need a broader understanding of the issues, and shouldn't make a decision based on marketing material alone.