Disclaimer :: Dr. Kathleen Cammack of Texas Health Care, P.L.L.C. sponsored and created this post based on her expertise.
The “good ol’ days” of medicine are gone. Today, patients (and providers) have choices — choice of physicians, choice of insurance, labs, treatments, and even choices to undergo or forgo certain treatment options. Patients have become more knowledgeable and capable of taking healthcare into their own hands. Physicians have many choices as well, including which specialized company they use for their specific tests, and whether or not they even perform certain testing. The past days of medicine have been replaced with options, which can be complicated and confusing, but also open doors to endless possibilities.
The choice whether or not to cord blood bank is one of these doors; and with it come many questions.
What Exactly Is Cord Blood?
Research has shown umbilical cord blood contains immature cells that can transform into a wide variety of tissues. These are called hematopoietic stem cells, and they have the potential of being used for the original cell donor down the road, or being transplanted into a different individual with lower rejection rates than traditional bone marrow. When it comes to the benefits of cord blood banking, research is ongoing. Cord blood stem cells are currently capable of assisting in the treatment of many diseases, including certain types of cancer, immune disorders, blood disorders, and metabolic disorders.
Potential treatments could exist for some skeletal and neurological injuries, heart and gastrointestinal diseases, wounds and organ damage, and even certain autoimmune and endocrine conditions. Many medical problems are caused by damage or loss of specific cells in tissue. There are hopes that, in the future, these stem cells could be sent to the area of need for regeneration of healthy, normal tissue at these sites.
What Is the Process for Collecting?
At the time of vaginal or cesarean delivery, the umbilical cord tissue, blood, or both are collected by the provider. Collection is easy, but obtaining enough cells from the umbilical cord can be difficult, and the sample may end up insufficient. After collection, the cells can either be sent to a public or private bank. Certain hospitals have affiliations with public banks, where the donated cells assist anyone in need and are not reserved for the individual or family from which they were derived. While this list is growing, none of the Fort Worth hospitals are currently in connection with public banks. Therefore, the option in Fort Worth is to collect with one of the numerous private banks.
Typical collection costs are around $2,000, and storage is around $100 annually. The goal is to pick an accredited, well-known, trusted, and easy-to-contact bank that will be available when and if the cells are needed in the future.
Is Banking the Right Choice for Your Family?
The ever-changing complexities of medicine make this a difficult choice for many. Choosing healthcare options for oneself can be stressful enough, but the potential future health of an unborn child brings many more questions into the picture. Parents want to make sure their children are protected, but banking can be a financial burden, and what are the chances children will need these cells later? These estimates are hard to calculate, but calculations suggest they are anywhere from one in 1,000 to one in 200,000.
Currently, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists (ACOG) do not recommend routine storage of these cells. ACOG does recommend a balanced and fair discussion with patients who are interested. ACOG also recommends a discussion of the possibility that the original cell donor may not benefit as much as siblings or other family members if a disease is detected, as this condition likely already exists in his or her own cells’ DNA. Family banking is recommended, however, when a first-degree relative has a disease that cord blood cells can treat. ACOG acknowledges that the potential to need these cells is rare, and the choice to store should be looked at as a sort of biological insurance. The hope is to never need it, but the sample is there in the rare event it is needed.
To bank or not to bank is a multifaceted decision that should involve knowledge of family history of diseases, financial ability, and peace of mind with whatever choice is made, as it is unclear to all of us what the future holds — in medicine and in the lives of our loved ones.
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A Fort Worth native, Dr. Kathleen Cammack graduated from Fort Worth Country Day School and went to Baylor University for her undergraduate degree. She graduated through the honors college with degrees in biology, chemistry, and medical ethics/humanities. From there, Dr. Cammack went to the University of Texas Medical School in Houston, where she discovered her passion for women’s health. She then went on to do her residency training in Dallas at the Baylor University Medical Center. She describes her job at Texas Health Care Obstetrics & Gynecology as the perfect balance of every aspect of medicine she enjoys, including deep relationships though continuity of care, women’s health, surgery, and the privilege of assisting in some of life’s most precious moments.
When not working, Dr. Cammack enjoys quality time with her family and friends, being outdoors, running, and exploring the Fort Worth restaurant scene. Her husband, Alex Cammack, is a dentist in southwest Fort Worth. They have two children, Porter and Parker, and are expecting a third this fall.
Connect with Texas Health Care Obstetrics & Gynecology online at https://thcobgyn.com, via Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Google+.
