Frequently Asked Questions
What information should I discuss with my patients who are interested in banking their baby's cord blood?
We recognise that the time you spend with your patients is limited and as such we do not expect medical staff to become involved in discussions with parents regarding cord blood banking. We at ASCH will provide a comprehensive service to your patients covering all aspects of the process.
To assist with this we will provide you with brochures and newsletters for your patients which will outline a number of ways by which they can seek further information from us. This may be through telephone contact (toll free numbers 1800 071 075 or 1800 005 541) or via our website www.cellsense.com.au
We can also arrange for your patients to meet personally with a member of our state based healthcare team, should they prefer this. We provide a 24 hour, seven day service which your patients can access to discuss all aspects of our service from provision of a detailed information pack through to arranging for the cord blood collection to take place.
What is my involvement once my patients have made the decision to store their baby's cord blood?
Once any of your patients have registered with our service you will be notified by mail of their intention to have a cord blood collection.
A collection kit will be despatched to the parents directly at 34 weeks gestation - or immediately upon registration if they are past this stage. They will then bring the collection kit with them when they come into hospital.
At the birth we require you to undertake collection of the cord blood, collect the required maternal blood, label the samples and pack them back into the collection box. The parents will have been instructed in how to arrange for our courier to collect their cord blood sample.
Our compliance to the Code of Good Manufacturing Practice requires all cord blood collectors be fully trained according to our procedures and we will provide you with the necessary standard of training to enable you to perform this service for your patients. A copy of the collection procedure is also available in each cord blood collection kit. We also provide a 24 hour telephone service should you require any assistance throughout the process (please call 1800 071 075 or 1800 005 541).
We require you to sign a Collector Registration Record as evidence of your training and to provide us information relating to your preferred payment method.
When should the cord blood be collected?
We encourage you to commence the collection whilst the placenta remains in utero as soon as is practical following the birth of the baby. This will optimise the volume collected and minimise the risk of the blood clotting in the cord.
Cord blood collection takes place at your discretion and obviously the welfare of both mother and baby is your primary concern. Cord blood collection can still take place once any obstetric issues have been managed or the same procedure can be utilised to perform an ex-utero collection where circumstances dictate.
Does a Caesarean section alter the collection process?
No, the cord blood collection procedure remains essentially unchanged whether the baby is delivered vaginally or by caesarean section.
What happens if there are complications during the delivery?
ASCH does not want cord blood collection to in any way distract from the well being of the mother and baby. If complications arise, it may be unsafe to take the cord blood and this decision is entirely at your discretion.
Can you state any clinical success with cord blood transplantation?
Pediatrics 2007- Case Study
E.M was in a good state of health until at 3 years of age, when she was diagnosed with B-prescursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).
Complete remission (CR) was achieved after 4 weeks of induction therapy, but early relapse occurred on week 44 of consolidation therapy.
Because of the early relapse, consideration was given to allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) transplantations. Yet, with the lack of an HLA-matched family member, a decision was made to use the autologous umbilical cord blood (UCB) that the patient’s parents had electively collected and stored at a commercial laboratory after delivery.
After 3 more cycles of consolidation chemotherapy, informed consent was given by the family, and the patient underwent autologous cord blood transplantation (CBT) while in second CR.
With the possibility that the patient’s leukemia clone may have been present in the cord blood, testing was performed for the detection of the leukemia clone. The cord blood showed no evidence of the same pattern.
UCB was infused without complications and engraftment occurred 15 days later. The girl’s complete blood count had been completely normal up to 4 months post-CBT. The patient did very well after autologous CBT without serious infections, major complications or graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). The patient remains in CR 28 months after relapse and 24 months after CBT.
With an increasing number of families opting for private UCB collection and storage, there is likely to be more cases of autologous UCB transplantation in the future.
For more articles please see our Research Library and our Breaking News sections.
Where will my patient's cord blood be stored?
Currently ASCH stores all of its cord blood samples at Sydney Adventist Hospital which is a well established, not for profit hospital. The SAH storage facility complies with the Australian Code of Good Manufacturing Practice and the laboratory has NATA accreditation. NATA (National Association of Testing Authorities) is Australia's Government-endorsed provider of accreditation for laboratories and similar testing facilities.
ASCH has recently completed the building of it's own dedicated processing laboratory and storage facility in Heatherton, Victoria. It is anticipated that we will be fully operational at our new facility by late 2010.
What are the costs to my patient for this service?
At ASCH we believe that this service should be accessible by all Australian families and, to that end, we have structured a range of payment options to suit all budgets. We are also happy to discuss individual payment plans should your patients require this.
The cost of the cord blood banking service is inclusive of:
- The support of a dedicated member of our customer care team to provide all required information and assist in the registration process.
- Provision of a personalised ASCH cord blood collection kit.
- Availability of fully trained collector - should you not wish to collect the cord blood yourself.
- Courier service available 24/7 - covering delivery of the cord blood collection kit and prompt despatch of the collected cord blood to the laboratory for processing.
- All required Pathology testing.
- Processing and then storage of the cord blood for an initial 18 year period. (The parents will hold the blood in trust for the child until they reach adulthood).