Top 5 Things To Know While Choosing A Cord Blood Bank

Soon-to-be millennial parents know it all. From prenatal yoga and Lamaze classes to postpartum care and newborn health, they go above & beyond to give their little ones the safest welcome into their world. Staying away from unsolicited advice, they base their ways of parenting on facts and long hours of research! While deciding on a gynecologist, birthing plan, and the hospital might come easy, choosing a cord blood bank often becomes difficult. With limited options available in India, finding your best fit can take time. But irrespective of how long or short it takes, make sure you consider these 5 factors before making the final call.

5 Factors To Consider While Choosing A Cord Blood Bank

Preserving your newborn's cord blood stem cells is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. You can only do it once at the time of their birth. So, you must do it right! Therefore, your search for a cord blood bank should begin as early as the first trimester. With plenty of time on your hand, you can carefully review your options without having to rush through them. Choosing a credible, accredited and reliable cord blood bank is necessary to ensure that your baby's stem cells stay safe and can be retrieved easily as and when the need arises. Learn more about what you should look for and avoid!

Before we jump into the technical details, it's important to know if the cord blood bank you choose is legitimate. The best way to confirm this is by looking at the accreditations they carry. Like any medical service provider, a cord blood bank also needs licenses and accreditations to operate. In fact, this is the only way to prove that a cord blood bank is legally recognized and upholds certain standards, making it a safe choice.

LifeCell owns many national and international accreditations for cord blood banking, tissue processing technology, as well as our state-of-the-art laboratories. This includes certifications from AABB (American Association of Blood Banks), AATB (American Association of Tissue Banks), WHO, FDA, NABL, CAP, and many more.

Transit And Safety Standards

Following your delivery, the collected cord blood sample is shipped to a cord blood bank laboratory for testing, processing, and storage. The bank must ensure that sample integrity during transit is not compromised at any cost. The sample should be transported in a temperature-controlled environment and sealed properly to avoid any leakage. Ask the cord blood bank you choose about the methods they use for sealing and shipping the sample. How do they maintain the sample’s quality between collection and arrival at the lab? 

At LifeCell, we use an advanced cord blood collection kit made of stainless steel to ship your sample to our labs. It's water-resistant, temperature-controlled, compact, as well as eco-friendly, ensuring your baby's sample stays safe throughout the journey.

Testing & Processing Standards

Regulatory authorities in India have set several guidelines about the tests a cord blood sample has to undergo upon collection or retrieval. These include tests for total cell count, stem cell viability, HLA matching, and infectious diseases like Hepatitis, HIV, and more. ^{1, 2} These tests are to be completed within 72 hours of sample collection to ensure the maximum viability of stem cells after processing. ³

So along with the time, make sure the cord blood bank you choose uses processing methods that allow the maximum possible extraction of stem cells and minimal RBC contamination, keeping your baby’s cord blood cells viable for decades.

LifeCell is the only cord blood bank in India that uses Pentastarch, a premier cord blood processing technology, which ensures maximum extraction of stem cells while reducing red blood cell contamination by up to 99%. Studies suggest that Pentastarch processed cord blood can also expedite recovery post-transplants. ^{4, 5}

Experience And Past Records

Before you choose a cord blood bank, ensure that you look into their records. It is a good idea to go beyond the number of samples in an inventory and consider how many cord blood units have been retrieved and used for transplants or other stem cell therapies. These numbers will reflect a bank's ability to handle cord blood processing and its success with various clinical applications. 

Be wary of a bank that boasts a high number of cord blood units but has not released one for a transplant so far - it may or may not indicate that the cord blood units they hold are not qualified for clinical use like a stem cell transplant.

So far, LifeCell has recorded 84 successful cord blood unit retrievals, including 18 international transplants, all shipped free of cost within 7 days of the initial request.

Financial Stability & Assistance

Financial stability is another factor you should not miss out on when choosing a cord blood bank in India. Make sure your cord blood bank has a backup plan for storing your baby's sample if they ever go out of business.

LifeCell honors the trust of parents who bank their baby's cord blood stem cells with us. We have a proper plan in place in case we decide to stop offering our services. We'll be responsible for transporting your baby's sample to the best cord blood bank free of cost, paying the entire storage fee upfront. Moreover, by choosing our community banking program, you also become entitled to Rs. 20,00,000 of financial assistance and unlimited sample retrievals at no extra cost.

Why Choosing LifeCell Is A Safe Bet?

LifeCell, India's first and largest stem cell bank, enjoys the trust of 4,00,000+ parents. By preserving your baby’s cord blood stem cells in our community banking model, one can gain direct access to as many as 75,000+ qualified cord blood units for their entire family. This means that if there's a need, you have a >97% chance of finding a match in LifeCell’s registry.

Families associated with LifeCell also enjoy an additional layer of security on their baby's stem cells through our dual-site storage facility in Chennai & Gurugram. With proper contingency plans to protect your baby's cord blood stem cells from accidents & natural calamities (including Disaster relief of Rs. 20,00,000), we make sure that your sample stays safe with us for a lifetime. Hopefully, choosing a cord blood bank for your little one will now seem a lot easier!

Wish to know more? Call 1800 266 5533 or write to us at contactus@lifecell.in now.