Tips on choosing your stem cell preservation bank:
Stem cell preservation has significant therapeutic value. This is a procedure where stem cells are collected and then stored for use in the future to potentially treat not only health problems of the donor, but possibly also other qualified recipients.
Stem cell preservation should be considered before a person actually suffers from a disease. As stem cell collections are not routinely carried out in hospitals, you have to first choose the storage bank with whom you wish to store your stem cells. The stem cell bank will then send you a stem cell collection kit for your doctor to use while collecting your specimen. After the collection process, the specimen is shipped to your designated stem cell bank, where testing is performed on the sample before the stem cells are processed and cryopreserved.
There are many critical points to remember when choosing the right bank for your stem cell preservation. Here is a critical list of questions:
- Are you licensed, registered, members of and/or compliant with, and in good standing with the following agencies: FDA, CLIA, CAP, AABB, NY, NJ, CA, BBB?
- Do you test the blood specimen for infectious diseases?
- What sort of processing system do you use? (Automated systems tend to yield higher rates of critical cells vs. manual methods.)
- What is your returning client rate?
- Is your return specimen kit safe for transport?
- Do you used heparin or a gentler anti-coagulant in your collection bag?
- Do you store in at least two compartments so that a specimen may be used more than once should expansion technologies improve?
- Do you store in bags or vials?
- What is your price?
- What is your annual storage fee?
- Do you have 24/7 client support?
- How long have you been in business?
