Umbilical Cord Blood Banking: Consensus Statement of the Indian Academy of Pediatrics

ABSTRACT

Justification Practitioners and people need information about the therapeutic potential of umbilical cord blood stem cells and pros andcons of storing cord blood in public versus private banks.Process Indian Academy of Pediatrics conducted a consultative meeting on umbilical cord blood banking on 25th June 2016 in Pune,attended by experts in the field of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation working across India. Review of scientific literature was alsoperformed. All expert committee members reviewed the final manuscript.Objective: To bring out consensus guidelines for umbilical cord banking in India.Recommendations: Umbilical cord blood stem cell transplantation has been used to cure many malignant disorders, hematologicalconditions, immune deficiency disorders and inherited metabolic disorders, even when it’s partially HLA mismatched. Collectionprocedure is safe for mother and baby in an otherwise uncomplicated delivery. Public cord blood banking should be promoted over privatebanking. Private cord blood banking is highly recommended when an existing family member (sibling or biological parent) is sufferingfrom diseases approved to be cured by allogenic stem cell transplantation. Otherwise, private cord blood banking is not a ‘biologicalinsurance’, and should be discouraged. At present, autologous cord stem cells cannot be used for treating diseases of genetic origin,metabolic disorders and hematological cancers. Advertisements for private banking are often misleading. Legislative measures arerequired to regularize the marketing strategies of cord blood banking.