[driverace]

Originally Posted by bblost

or maybe God saying. Damn why did that xyz not use the science I was enabling them to understand and use.

just my thought.

How can man know and try to judge, what is God's wish.

Excuse this OT:

@princepervez

I highly doubt, whether god will say "Damn" in either cases!

Ace.

[srishiva]

I used Narayana Hrudayalaya's service. Its for 20 years and the prices are reasonable too. They send updates on the current research and developments.

[ritayan]

Originally Posted by srishiva

I used Narayana Hrudayalaya's service. Its for 20 years and the prices are reasonable too. They send updates on the current research and developments.

Any pointers on how reasonable is Narayana Hrudayalaya.

[DueLLeR]

Reliance Life Sciences is also into the business. Check out: Relicord

Cheers!
DueLLeR

[swapnil.rahate]

I will be watching this thread as we are expecting a baby soon. How much time before the delivery we need to inform them?

[blorebuddy]

We are also expecting, any pointers on the charges by diff companies and recommendation will help

[rajesh1868]

Wow! Never knew about this thread. And happy to know many TBHPians are expecting. Add me too to the list.
@shrishiva, can you please share the cost in Narayan Hrudyalaya?

Sorry If this sounds as a dump question, I have a peculiar problem. I am having twins
So is it that i have to go for 2 or would storing one be useful for two kids?

[bond_bhai]

Seriously, i did not have any idea this even existed! Thanks for the information, i will share this with my friend who is expecting soon.

[anilisanil]

I just became a dad (a month ago) and was aware of this stem cells thing. So we asked our gyno if it is a good idea, she just asked if we are planning for a second in future, we said yes. She then asked us not to invest as the technology and prices will see huge sways in coming future, it would be a good idea to invest if this is your only child or your not going to plan one any further. Hope that helps!

[akj123]

@rajesh1868: Congrats on the twins !!

I don't know if you should store for one or both, however some info that may help - One of our friends had twins earlier this year and they had banked their stem cells with BabyCell. They had got it done for both at the price of one (approx 70k), seems like there was a special Mother's day offer running that time. You may want to check with BabyCell.

Since we went through the stem cell banking exercise for our hero last year, let me explain our thought process. I have read and learnt a lot about cars from teambhp, hope this post helps some forum members. But please do your own research and reach your own conclusions !

Why do stem cell banking ?

Well, frankly we were initially not interested. I also read an article (see link below) which stated that the American Academy of Pediatrics did not support private cord blood banking, unless there are some circumstances like older sibling has a disease which could be potentially cured with the stem cells:
AAP Opposes Private Cord Blood Banking

We started thinking about it though due to two reasons - the extremely low (but non-zero) probability that our baby may have some illness that would require it (basically we shouldnt ever feel in future we lost a chance - yes, the emotional angle). Second, it seems to be a hot area of medical research, and may one day lead to better treatment/cure for variety of diseases - including the heart disease kind of stuff which is so common in India. So we thought, ok let's go for it, with hope we never need to actually use it.

I actually did try to find out about public banking also, but we dropped the idea since there is no guarantee the sample will be available for your use - it can be given to anyone whose protein match. Also, one of the few players who was doing this had stopped (due to viability), so not sure how many were/are left.

Which stem cell bank company to go for ?

We didnt do much research on this, as by the time we decided we wanted to do it, it was getting close to d-day. We had seen presentations from Lifecell, liked their patience in answering our qs, and it also seemed that they were the biggest player, so went for them.

More on last factor. The whole process is basically a black box - the sample collection, tests done to validate it, sample storage for 21 years etc. As customers, maybe we can go and check out the facility (in Chennai for Lifecell), but most won't do that. So it's basically done on faith, that the vendor is going to do a good job, and be around for a long time !

Lifecell was giving some guarantee in case sample wasnt useable later. Finally, I read that the stem cell regulation laws were still a work-in-progress in India. See the link: Government sets up panel to regulate use of stem cells - Corporate News - livemint.com

With all these factors in mind, i thought of going with the largest player.

However, there are other factors which others may look into - like i believe some of the players store sample in two different geographical locations, which can give some backup in case of natural disasters etc. I dont think there is much cost variation, though I have heard that Narayana Hrudalaya is cheaper - didn't check them out as we didn't even know then that they do stem cell banking.

Which package to go for ?

These days along with stem cell, the umbilical tissue is also an option. During our time, Lifecell had 4 packages - cord blood only, cord blood + tissue, and two other cord blood + tissue options in which they grew the stem cells to a larger number (X/Y millions).

We went for the intermediate package which had cord blood + tissue, and stored some X million cells - other reason I think was also that they had some additional tests in it. It cost 80K that time. I believe that the packages have changed/improved now - not sure.

What is the process ?

1. Fill up the application form, pay the money
2. To be safe, check with the hospital that the doctors are trained on how to do the sample collection. If not, the vendor should be able to send staff to do it.
3. The vendor will give a box with customer id and some material which needs to be stored in freezer section of the fridge.
4. On d-day, remember to take out the material and take to hospital. Over there, give it to the nurse after checkin.
5. Call up the customer care, they will generally arrange the sample pickup and transport to their facility.
6. After a few weeks, should get some certificates from the vendor which mention the sample quality, confirmation they have been stored etc.

[anoopap]

Originally Posted by Bubby

The blood which is present in the umbical chord is rich in stem cell and will stay rich only if its preserved immidiately after the childs birth, which in turn is much different from what a grown up human beings blood.

That is why a need to store.

These cells when injected into an infected person ( immidiate relations ), replaces and rebuilds the infacted cell completely from the very core, and the person gets cured of the disease permanently.

Pls note these are just the predictions; that stem cells can be used to cure any desease.

Stem cell is not just injected to the body. Specialised cells need to be cultured first (grown artificially) and then injected at the damaged part. As of now, cell culture itself is neither completely understood nor completely controlled; and there are chances that they may become "cencerous" themselves.

Lab tests and results are still being carried out. So if you want to preserve these cells; it is more of a probability/hope rather than a certainty that it will be used for any treatment.

Reference:
Stem cell - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Stem cell treatments - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Abeer]

Has anyone recently gone for Stem Cell banking?

There are many companies out there. Lifecell, CordLife, StemCyte, etc. Can anybody recommend a good one based on some research?

I am attaching some files that I got from StemCyte for reference.

[zoombiee]

Originally Posted by rajesh1868

Wow! Never knew about this thread. And happy to know many TBHPians are expecting. Add me too to the list.
@shrishiva, can you please share the cost in Narayan Hrudyalaya?

Sorry If this sounds as a dump question, I have a peculiar problem. I am having twins
So is it that i have to go for 2 or would storing one be useful for two kids?

It is extremely important to have stem cells stored if you have twins, since if one sibling has any issues (God Forbid!), the stem cells of the other sibling can be used. Too late on the post but wanted to share.

[zoombiee]

Originally Posted by anilisanil

I just became a dad (a month ago) and was aware of this stem cells thing. So we asked our gyno if it is a good idea, she just asked if we are planning for a second in future, we said yes. She then asked us not to invest as the technology and prices will see huge sways in coming future, it would be a good idea to invest if this is your only child or your not going to plan one any further. Hope that helps!

I dont think Gynaecs are good people to answer this question. Stem Cells are usually needed if there are siblings. Suppose one kid has a genetic disorder which the other kid does not have, the healthy kids stem cells can be used. There is no point using stem cells that have the same genetic disorder.

[rajesh1868]

Originally Posted by zoombiee

It is extremely important to have stem cells stored if you have twins, since if one sibling has any issues (God Forbid!), the stem cells of the other sibling can be used. Too late on the post but wanted to share.

@zoombiee,

Thanks! I have anyway gone ahead and stored cells of both of them.

I went with Narayana Hrudayalaya and the total amount is still lesser than what others where quoting for storing one. They even have a lump sum offer which is again discounted and which you need to pay within the first year.

This is what NH had advised me on whether to store both or not. If the twins are identical, then you can go ahead with one. If not, it is advised to store both but still you can go ahead with just one. The probability of a match that sibling gets, iirc is more than 50%. They even had some reports to show where the cells were used for treatment of grandmother.

Originally Posted by Abeer

Has anyone recently gone for Stem Cell banking?

There are many companies out there. Lifecell, CordLife, StemCyte, etc. Can anybody recommend a good one based on some research?

I am attaching some files that I got from StemCyte for reference.

Take a look at NH also. they dont quote enormous amount. 8 months back it was 30k odd for one and 45k for my twins. Others were quoting some 60k+