Everything you need to know about cord blood banking

Cord blood banking preserves the stem cells found in your baby's umbilical cord blood after birth. These stem cells are used in transplants to treat blood cancers, immune deficiencies, and other serious blood disorders. Many more conditions are being studied in clinical trials. Your newborn's stem cells can only be collected immediately after birth.

Yes! They contain different types of stem cells with different applications. Cord blood contains hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) that regenerate blood and immune systems, used in over 60,000 transplants since 1988. Cord tissue contains mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) being researched in over 500 clinical trials for regenerative medicine including heart disease, Alzheimer's, and osteoarthritis. Banking both gives your family the broadest range of options.

Cord blood stem cells are used in transplants to rebuild a healthy blood and immune system, treating over 80 conditions including leukemia, lymphoma, sickle cell disease, thalassemia, severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), and metabolic disorders like Krabbe disease. Clinical trials are underway for cerebral palsy, autism, type 1 diabetes, stroke, and more.

Yes! If your baby's cord blood stem cells are not collected at birth, they are discarded as medical waste. Cord blood can only be collected immediately after birth. It cannot be collected at a later date.

Your baby's cord blood is a 100% match for themselves. Biological siblings have a 25% chance of being a perfect HLA match and a 50% chance of being a partial (haploidentical) match. Cord blood is more tolerant of partial matches than bone marrow, which means partially matched units may also benefit parents and extended family. Each cord blood unit can only be used in one transplant. Once used, it is no longer available for other family members.

Yes! Each child's cord blood is a guaranteed perfect match for them, and physicians use the entire sample in each transplant. Physicians use an entire sample in each transplant since more stem cells increase the engraftment rate and overall success. Each cord blood unit can only be used once.

Completely safe. Cord blood is collected after the baby is born and the umbilical cord has been clamped and cut. No blood is taken from the baby or mother. It does not interfere with the delivery process in any way.

Yes! While delayed cord clamping may reduce the volume of cord blood collected, a good amount of stem cells can still be collected and preserved. Many families choose to do both. Discuss with your OB to include both in your birth plan.

Call us immediately at (866) 389-4659. Overnight kit shipping is available for $100. Our team can coordinate urgent delivery to most hospitals within 24 hours.

Your baby's cord blood does not expire and is not discarded. Properly cryopreserved cord blood stays viable for decades; StemCyte recently released a unit stored for 18 years that was used to successfully treat a 46-year-old stroke patient in a clinical trial. When an 18-year prepaid plan ends, storage simply continues at $200 per year, or you can lock the rate with a prepaid lifetime plan.

Yes! You can split your total into 6 or 12 monthly payments. Call (866) 389-4659 to discuss payment options with a specialist. Lifetime storage plans are also available.

StemCyte offers special pricing for medical professionals. A free Sibling Donor Program is available for families where a sibling has a diagnosis for which transplantation is standard therapy.

StemCyte is the only one of the four major U.S. private cord blood banks with an FDA-licensed cord blood product (REGENECYTE® under US License 2280), the only one founded as a public bank, and the only one with 2,300+ documented transplants. StemCyte is also one of two (with Cryo-Cell) that holds FACT accreditation. Our full line-by-line comparison covers processing methods, accreditations, and clinical trials, with sources for every claim.

StemCyte is the only cord blood bank that operates both a private and public bank, offering families the option to add public bank access. We've shipped over 2,300 transplant units to 325+ hospitals in 40 countries, more than any other private bank. We're FDA-registered and double-accredited (FACT and AABB) and sponsor 3 active clinical trials.

Unique to StemCyte: if your child ever needs more stem cells than were stored, StemCyte will provide a matching unit from our public cord blood bank, extend the search to all global public banks, or use up to $50,000 to source a matching unit from an external bank if none is found. Available as a $299 Advanced Protection option with any plan.

If your newborn's cord blood unit fails to engraft, StemCyte will refund all service fees paid, pay an additional $50,000, and provide a replacement unit from our donor cord blood bank free of charge. This guarantee is included at no additional cost with every plan.

StemCyte is accredited by FACT (Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy), AABB (Association for the Advancement of Blood and Biotherapies), and is FDA-registered. We also comply with cGMP (Current Good Manufacturing Practices). StemCyte was among the first private cord blood banks to achieve FACT accreditation.