Storage options
In Switzerland you have the option of storing your baby's stem cells, otherwise they will be wasted. Whether for your family or the community, your decision can make a life-saving difference.
The decision to opt for private or public storage of stem cells involves weighing these advantages against the costs and considering the current medical status, family medical history and limitations. Consulting with healthcare providers and understanding the current state of stem cell research can help families make informed choices.
Public
Contribute to the society by donating to a public bank, supporting research and saving lives.
- Blood stem cells that are stored in public umbilical cord blood banks are entered in the public stem cell register and are available to patients worldwide.
- Anyone who decides to donate stem cells does not have to expect any costs. The costs are covered by the public register.
- Some families might opt for public donation rather than private storage, contributing their cord blood to public banks where it can be used by anyone in need of a matching donor. This option is often considered as acommunity service.
- In Switzerland external donations of umbilical cord blood stem cells are currently only carried out in the following hospitals: Inselspital Bern, University Hospital Basel, Cantonal Hospital Aarau and HUG Geneva. Theblood is stored in the umbilical cord blood banks in Basel and Geneva.
- The donating parents or the child itself do not have an exclusive right to the blood stem cells.
- In public storage, only cord blood is stored, lacking the storage of valuable tissue-based stem cells like those found in the umbilical cord tissue or placenta, which limits potential therapeutic applications that tissuestem cells may offer.
- The costs of collection and storage in the public cord blood bank are high, which is why only cord blood donations with a high stem cell content are stored in the public banks in Switzerland. This means that the umbilical cord blood is only actually stored in very few cases, even if the parents wish to donate it.
Private
Preserve Stem Cells exclusively for your family`s potential future medical needs.
- Private storage ensures immediate accessibility to the stored cells when needed. There's no dependence on external registries or banks, and the cells are readily available for potential therapeutic use.
- Possibility of storing the stem cells regardless of which hospital or birthing center the birth takes place.
- The stored stem cells are reserved exclusively for personal or family use. This means that if a medical need arises within the family, the stored cells can potentially be used for treatment without having to search for a suitable donor.
- Stem cells collected from a newborn's cord blood, cord tissue and placenta tissue are a perfect genetic match for the baby and potentially for siblings or other family members. This reduces the likelihood of rejection in caseof transplantation and can be crucial for certain diseases requiring stem cell transplants.
- Research into the therapeutic applications of stem cells is ongoing. By storing these cells privately, families have access to ongoing clinical trials and potential future treatments that may harness the unique properties ofthese stem cells for various conditions.
- If there is a genetic disease, it does not make sense to use your own stem cells with the same genetic defect. However, it may be possible to use the stem cells of a healthy sibling.
- Private storage involves fees for collection, processing, and ongoing storage. With most Companies on the Swiss market it includes the storage of 25 or 50 years.