The possibilities the stem cells to be used from the child or the family are low, so why we should be follow this procedure?
Taking in consideration that the cause or the onset of a disease is unknown and the stem cells applications are expanding fast, it can not be measured the benefits that a family can gain from this procedure. According to a study, that published by Hawkins at al 2004, in the Nat Clin Pract Oncol, the possibilities for a child to use its own stem cells until the age of 21 were 1:2700 and for the whole family 1:400. Today the same possibilities for a life time according to new data are 1:2001. One to three patients in USA over 65 years old, who suffers from chronic illness can be benefitted by using its own stem cells. This group of patients includes cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, neurodegenerative disorders, and nervous system injury. The expansion of uses of stem cells in malignancies and immune system diseases will increase the future recipients of stem cells, as the recent publications concerns the great number of umbilical cord blood stem cells enough to treat adults. Internationally, there are an increasing number of publications, regarded on new stem cells applications. Because there is not deadline in the life of the crypreserved stem cells, everybody who has stem cells will use in the lifetime. 1. Nietfeld etal, 2008 Life-time probabilities of Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation in USA. Biol. Blood Marrow Transplant 14 (3): 316-322