Routine commercial collection and storage of blood and stem cells from umbilical cords after babies are born cannot currently be justified on scientific grounds, according to leading doctors.
Routine commercial collection and storage of blood and stem cells from umbilical cords after babies are born cannot currently be justified on scientific grounds, according to leading doctors.
Pregnant women in the UK are being targeted by commercial organisations with emotive literature offering them a 'once-in-a-lifetime opportunity' that is 'like freezing a spare immune system' for subsequent use if their child develops illness in later life. This private storage of cord blood typically costs around £600.
Despite blood cord stem cell transplantation being used successfully in some cases of leukaemia and immune diseases, there is currently insufficient evidence of its potential use to justify routine collection and storage of cord blood from the majority of families, according to the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG).
"We are concerned that commercial companies are targeting pregnant women with such emotive literature when the scientific evidence is not yet there to back up their claims," said Professor Nick Fisk, Chairman of the RCOG's Scientific Advisory Committee.
"Stem cells collected from umbilical cords have been successfully used to treat some illnesses such as leukaemia, but it is speculation to suggest that they may be used in future years to cure a wider-range of illnesses such as Parkinson's disease, diabetes and heart disease.
"At the present time we are unable to recommend routine directed commercial cord blood collection and stem-cell storage."
Parents wanting cord blood collected privately are increasingly approaching obstetricians and midwives and there are concerns over the practical implications of collecting samples.
"Not only does this practice distract labour ward staff from the care of the mother and her baby, but there are serious questions over the legal position of clinicians should any problems with the sample be discovered later in life," added Professor Fisk. "We are recommending that individual NHS Trusts need to develop their own policy on how to respond to prenatal requests for cord blood storage through commercial providers."
The first successful cord blood transplant between relatives was carried out 12 years ago. Blood taken from umbilical cords has since become an alternative source of haemopoietic stem cells (HSC) to bone marrow and has been used in over 2,000 transplants (between relatives and non-relatives) worldwide.
In families where there is a known genetic disease that can be treated by HSC transplantation, some transplant centres recommend cord blood collection and storage for siblings born into these families. The National Blood Service also operates a limited service where women can donate umbilical cord blood altruistically, in a similar way to bone marrow donors.
Pregnant women who wish to donate cord blood to the National Blood Service banks for use in unrelated transplantation can do so at the following hospitals: Northwick Park Hospital in Harrow, Barnet General Hospital, Newcastle Royal Victoria Infirmary and the Mater Infirmorum Hospital in Belfast.
