As a mother-to-be, you should be familiar with the term “cord blood”. When you are in the hospital, someone will always recommend cord blood banking, and you don’t know if they are from the hospital or a company; the displays next to the rest area are also about cord blood banking, making mothers confused about cord blood banking! What is cord blood? Is cord blood useful? Cord blood refers to the blood that remains in the placenta and umbilical cord after the fetus is delivered, the umbilical cord is ligated and disconnected. Cord blood is rich in hematopoietic stem cells and also contains multipotential stem cells that can differentiate into a variety of tissues. Cord blood has a great role to play. Academician Lu Daopei has said, “Because the genes and mating type of autologous umbilical cord blood match perfectly, there is no graft-versus-host reaction or rejection after transplantation, and the implantation lives quickly. In treatment, I would definitely choose to utilize the patient’s own stored cord blood if it is available for treatment.” “It is an academic misconception that autologous transplantation cannot be done for hereditary diseases. In fact, autologous transplants can be done for hereditary diseases, and although they are not curative, they have a short-term effect of one to several years, which can buy time for the patient to have a second effective transplant after the condition is stabilized.” Will the collection of cord blood affect the baby? Cord blood is collected after the baby is born and the umbilical cord is clamped and severed, a process that does not adversely affect the baby or the mother or the birth process. Where is the cord blood stored? Cord blood banks are divided into self-banks and public banks. 1. Public Bank Publicly owned, donors donate their cord blood to the public bank to help all those in need, during which there is no fee to pay. As the most precious treasure brought into the world by newborns, cord blood donation can benefit more people and has great social value. American Society of Blood and Marrow Transplantation, American Academy of Pediatrics and Obstetrics Argument: Parents are recommended to donate cord blood to public banks. 2. Autologous banking For autologous and inter-parental use, requires payment of fees, storage is not recommended and simply puts money in the pockets of businessmen. Autologous banking is not recommended in general Short survival time: Cord blood is known to remain active after 15 years of freezing and storage, but there is no data related to longer preservation. Latent disease: Autologous cord blood may contain undetected abnormal or malignant cells that can lead to later morbidity. Low probability of clinical need: It is difficult to estimate the probability that a healthy newborn will be born with preserved cord blood for use in his or her own body. The probability of application of preserved autologous cord blood is roughly between 0.0005% and 0.04%. Expensive: In addition to the tens of thousands of dollars you pay at the beginning, you will have to pay for the preservation every year afterwards. Allogeneic cord blood treatment is more effective. Autologous banking can be chosen if the following conditions exist in the family The child’s sibling (sibling) has a disease (leukemia, lymphoma, hemoglobinopathy, bone marrow failure syndrome) suitable for hematopoietic stem cell transplant treatment. If one of the child’s parents needs a HSCT and the parents and the child have a common human leukocyte antigen. To donate to a public bank doctors say they do not meet the criteria? Why is it possible to store in an autologous bank? Public cord blood banks are more stringent in screening cord blood for eligibility than autologous banks. For example, a mother with a history of hepatitis cannot donate cord blood to a public bank, but for autologous banks, as long as the current infectious hepatitis activity index test is negative, the blood can usually be collected. How do I choose an institution? What are the requirements for institutions? Many institutions use the pretense of cord blood storage for financial gain. It has been calculated that if you charge 10,000 RMB per private cord blood deposit, you will have 1 billion RMB in revenue to establish a cord blood bank for 100,000 people. According to the highest probability of 0.04% of the above-mentioned babies using their own cord blood, that is 40 people, one person can’t get the cord blood to pay 10 million, which is 400 million, a net profit of 600 million. It is definitely a profitable industry! If parents still want to store autologous cord blood, they should be careful in choosing an institution. After all, the collection, freezing and preservation of cord blood are crucial. Umbilical cord blood in liquid nitrogen at -196°C allows the number and quality of cells to remain basically unchanged. However, it may be affected once it is removed for re-temperature freezing and thawing as well as for dilution and cleaning.