How long should you keep your child’s cord blood stored?

 

The answer is indefinitely. Cord blood stem cells don’t have an expiry date and the chance of needing to use them increases with age.

According to Frances Verter,  the founder of the international independent site – Parents Guide to Cord Blood Banking it doesn’t make sense to invest in the up-front collection and processing fees and then throw out the investment.

“That would be like buying life insurance and then cancelling it because you have not died yet”

Verter says that even if the cord blood collection was small, and the child becomes too large to use it for a transplant, it could still be enough cells for a regenerative medicine therapy.

The science of cryobiology has demonstrated that cells which are cryogenically preserved remain viable for decades.  Cord blood stem cells remain viable after being frozen 23+ years .

References:
Broxmeyer, H.E. Cell Stem Cell 2010; 6(1):21-24
Mazur, P. Science 1970; 168(3934):939-949
Nietfeld, J.J. et al. BBMT 2008; 14:316-322