Find the Best Cord Blood Banking in Cleveland, OH

Is cord blood banking worth it?

Around 15,000 babies are born each year in the Cleveland area. Those expecting children may want to consider cord blood banking. This includes the many young families residing in the Edgewater, Kamm’s Corners, and Ohio City neighborhoods.

Parents with a family history of diseases treatable by stem cell transplants are among those most likely to benefit from cord blood banking in Cleveland. Umbilical cord stem cells from cord blood can be used to treat:

• Cancers including leukemia and lymphoma
• Disorders of the blood and immune systems including sickle cell anemia and Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome
• Bone marrow failure syndromes
• Metabolic disorders

To decide whether cord blood banking is worth it, consider your family health history, the cost of cord blood banking and the reputation of the cord blood banking company. Is it registered with the Food and Drug Administration? Does it have professional accreditation? Is it reviewed well by parents who have used it for collection, processing and storage?

Cord blood banking pros and cons

There are pros and cons to cord blood banking in Cleveland:

Pros:

• Easy, safe and painless collection process with help from medical staff at Cleveland hospitals
• Allows for lifesaving treatments
• Storage for 20 years or longer
• Ongoing research may yield more medical uses of cord blood, cord tissue and placental tissue stem cells

Cons:

• High cost
• Not all medical conditions are treatable with stem cells
• Donor and relatives not always a match for a stem cell transplant
• May never use stem cells

How is cord blood stored?

Cord blood is stored at either a private or public cord blood bank. Private cord blood banks charge a fee to process and store cord blood for donors and relatives. Public cord blood banks take donations of cord blood and make it available for people who need stem cell transplants.

How much does cord blood banking cost in Cleveland?

Cord blood banking cost in Cleveland depends on a number of factors:

• Number of donors (e.g., single baby, twins, triplets)
• What’s being stored (e.g., cord blood, cord tissue, placental tissue)
• Duration of storage
• Payment choice (e.g., full payment, monthly payment, initial payment plus annual storage fee)

For one child, expect to pay $1,500 - $2,000 for collection and processing, plus $150 - $200 per year for cord blood storage.

Who can use cord blood?

Cord blood stem cells may help treat a donor, a donor’s sibling, a donor’s relative or a nonrelative. Who can benefit from a donor’s cord blood depends on these factors:

• Whether the cord blood is stored in a private or public cord blood bank
• The medical condition being treated
• The match between the donor and recipient
• The quality of the cord blood