Thais' Cord Blood Stored In Singapore

[george]

Thais' cord blood stored overseas

SINGAPORE: -- A cord blood banking service has attracted wealthy Thai mothers who have paid to transfer their new-born babies' cord blood for storage in a laboratory here.

The blood stock is hoped to be a health safety guarantee for their children for a possible stem cell transplant should their children develop fatal blood-related ailments such as thalassemia and leukaemia in the future.

Thai health officials said treatment using patients' own cord blood is not yet available in Thailand due to the high cost of storage.

During her recent visit to a laboratory at the Camden Medical Centre which provides cord blood banking facilities, Nisarat Kasatri, a doctor at Samitivej Hospital, said around 10 to 15% of Thai and foreign mothers at Samitivej had agreed to pay vast amounts of money to have their new-born babies' cord blood transferred to Singapore and kept at the laboratory. The blood is taken upon birth delivery.

The transfer and storage of cord blood for each client costs 50,000 baht in the first year and 6,000 baht for the next years.

''If they can afford it and think it will be useful in the future, these mothers agree to pay for the storage,'' said Dr Nisarat. ''But the storage cost is more expensive than the transplant cost. So some patients think it might not be worthwhile as there will be a slim chance of using it.''

Steven Fang, head of Cygenics, a company that runs the laboratory and provides cord-blood banking services for Singaporean and Thai parents, said the storage life is up to 20 years and the company runs a test every year to see if the cells remain viable.

Cord blood which can only be collected at the time of birth is usually enough for a single transplant. Mr Fang said stem cells deriving from patients' own cord blood was the best source because there would be a perfect genetic match needed for regenerating damaged cells. The stored blood can be used by the owner's siblings as well because there is a higher chance of matching, he said.

''If we use a patient's own stem cells, that means there's a perfect match,'' he said.

''You need a matching for stem cells because if there's no match, your system will reject it. So using stem cells derived from total strangers will be much more difficult.''

He said the laboratory is accredited by the American Association of Blood Banks.

Jo Ong, a 29-year-old accountant, is a pregnant Singaporean woman who intends to store her baby cord blood upon delivery.

She said this new technology is useful for her child to be born in case he or she happens to catch a blood-related illness, and it is also affordable for her.

Sirilak Piancharoen, health official at the Thai Red Cross National Blood Centre, said the centre had run cord blood banking since 2001 but the purpose is different from that of the company in Singapore.

She said the cord blood had been collected from more than 300 donors and it would be available only for treatment of total strangers.

She said so far the centre had used stem cells derived from donated cord blood for treatment of three patients who suffered blood-related diseases.

''A chance for treatment is very slim because the genetic matching is 1:50,000,'' she said. ''Cord blood banking for patients' own use is not popular here because it involves a storage cost of 10,000 baht per week.''

--Bangkok Post 2006-04-17

[SC spec]

Read the reply as well to this extremely biased and inflamed article from sponsored journalists!

The service HAS been available in Thailand but if he had mentioned that then the news were NO NEWS!

thanks

http://www.thaistemlife.co.th/newindex/news/scan.jpg

http://www.thaistemlife.co.th the website of the Thai company.

[lingling]

Read the reply as well to this extremely biased and inflamed article from sponsored journalists!

The service HAS been available in Thailand but if he had mentioned that then the news were NO NEWS!

thanks

http://www.thaistemlife.co.th/newindex/news/scan.jpg

http://www.thaistemlife.co.th the website of the Thai company.

Interesting that this service is available locally. A few years ago the only options were to ship it to the US or Europe. (which meant another $500-$1000 for transport in addition to the processing and storage costs)

Does your company separate the stem cells out of the cord blood before storing it or is it stored as-is? How is it preserved between extraction and processing (heparin, chilled, ...?)

Btw, loads of interesting reading about cord blood storage and its possible (current and future) uses on this website (belongs to a US company that has been providing this service for years):

http://www.cordblood.com/

...and for anyone who wish to store outside TH, here are two couriers that can handle the transport:

http://www.qintl.com/

http://www.worldcourier.com/

(both has local representatives or cooperates with local companies for pickup etc)

[SC spec]

The cord blood is processed and the stem cells separated via hemohes addition and refrigerated centrifugation so the only a pure stem cell concentrate is stored in the so called Thermogenesis bags (special AABB accredieted bags). That in order to avoid ABO blood group incompatibilities should the specimen be used by other family members (should it become necessary) and to minimise the storage volume so less DMSO (cryoprotectant) is used. The reason for this is that less DMSO gives less side effects upon reinfusion. The reson for the red blood cell (RBC) separation is to avoid breakage of RBC and hemoglobin being reinfused (risk for kidney side effects). The lowering of the temperature (cryofreezing) happens in the controlled rate freezer by 1oC/minute, other methods compromize viability. The procedure is AABB identical and ISO 9001/200 accredited.

More info and downloadable material both in Thai and English is available in

http://www.thaistemlife.co.th

Edited May 25, 2006 by SC spec

[SC spec]

...and of course let us not forget that the service is available for ADULTS as well by Peripheral Blood Stem Cell collection for us that were born before the corb blood era.

More info in: http://www.thaistemlife.co.th/newindex/english/adult/

"...few things as tragic than knowing that there is a cure but having no access to it"

[kipthai]

Hi there!

my wide is pregnant in her 7th month! Anyone can suggest what to do in thailand? should i store overseas?

thanks!

[SC spec]

http://www.stemcellnews.com/articles/stem-...ift-of-life.htm Edited June 1, 2006 by SC spec