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By Amy Orciari Herman
Edited by Susan Sadoughi, MD, and André Sofair, MD, MPH
The American Academy of Pediatrics has updated its 2007 policy statement on cord blood banking to help guide clinicians in answering patient questions about the process.
Among the recommendations, published in Pediatrics:
Public cord blood banks are preferred over private, as public banking is highly regulated, costs nothing for the donor, and "serves the entire world" rather than just a single family.
Clinicians must explain autologous and allogeneic use of cord blood to expectant parents to enable informed choices about whether and how to store their infant's blood; in particular, parents should understand that if their child develops leukemia, their stored cord blood contains premalignant cells and couldn't be used as treatment.
Providers need to educate parents that there currently are no data "to support the claim that autologous cord blood is a tissue source proven to be of value for regenerative medical purposes."
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LINK(S):
Pediatrics article (Free)
Pediatrics early-release site (if above link doesn't work yet) (Free)
Background: Physician's First Watch coverage of sub-par practices at private cord blood banks (Free)