What is a Private cord blood bank

Private or family cord blood banks collect cord blood for the child's own (autologous) use or for a sibling.

Private banks store cord blood not only for potential use in transplants for the treatment of blood-related diseases but also for future use in regenerative medicine applications.

This private storage is a type of 'insurance' and the number of cord blood units being stored autologously has increased significantly following announcements of successful transplants using units stored in private banks.

With this increase in demand, the number of private cord blood banks has also increased, making the need for an educated decision by parents even more important.

The chance of ever needing an autologous cord blood unit for transplantation is fortunately very low but the decision to take this truly once-in-a-lifetime insurance is for the parents to make based on an informed analysis.

The use of cord blood stem cells in regenerative medicine (the repair of damaged tissue or muscle - cardiac disease for example) is not yet a routine therapeutic application but, recently, there has been a significant increase in scientific publications relating to the use of cord blood in such therapies.

The number of cord blood units being stored privately is as high as 10% in some countries where obstetricians and the medical community in general are giving their conditional approval.

Sepax is used by the largest private cord blood bank in Europe.