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Please note:
  • Grand River Hospital offers this information about cord blood banking to you for your consideration.
  • It is your choice whether to proceed.
  • Your relationship for cord blood retrieval and storage will be with your chosen provider.
  • Parents are welcome to use any cord blood service they wish.

Insception Lifebank (Insception) is the largest and most experienced cord blood bank in Canada. With over 20 years of experience, Insception Lifebank has processed and stored more than 72,000 cord blood units, the largest number of all Canadian cord blood banks.

Grand River Hospital has partnered with Insception as an independent preferred vendor to ensure our patients are educated about umbilical cord blood and tissue banking. A portion of revenues generated from cord blood collections at Grand River Hospital is paid to the hospital and directed towards supporting clinical research, education, medical equipment and other investments in patient care.

Below is information provided by Insception to assist you in making an informed decision about your cord blood and tissue banking options.

What is cord blood and tissue?
  • Cord blood is the blood that remains in your baby’s umbilical cord and placenta
  • Cord blood is a rich source of stem cells and other important cells
  • Cord tissue is a small segment of the baby’s umbilical cord, which is a rich source of different stem cells not found in cord blood
What can cord blood be used for?
  • Cord blood is currently regulated for use as an alternative treatment to bone marrow1 for diseases where a transplant is required2
  • Over 35,000 cord blood transplants3 have been performed worldwide in the treatment of 80+ life-threatening diseases4, including leukemias, blood cancers, immune system deficiencies, and blood disorders
  • Your baby’s cord blood is a perfect match and is more likely to be a match for siblings than unrelated donors
Research and clinical trials for cord blood and tissue
  • The potential uses of umbilical cord blood and tissue are expanding rapidly
  • Encouraging research is currently underway that suggests that in the future cord blood stem cells may help treat conditions such as Type1 diabetes5, cerebral palsy6,7, autism8 and other chronic illnesses
  • Cord tissue is not currently approved for medical treatments however clinical trials and research are underway in disease conditions such as multiple sclerosis, ischemic heart disease and spinal cord Injury9, 10, 11
How does the collection process work?
  • The collection process is simple and painless for both mother and baby
  • Can be collected at any birth – vaginal, caesarean, homebirth
  • After you enroll online, you will be sent a collection kit which you bring with you to the hospital
  • OBGYN or GP or Midwife will perform the collection of cord blood or cord blood and tissue

To receive your cord blood information kit, please click here to visit Insception Lifebank's website (opens in a new tab)

Families in need program

To ensure families have access to potential treatments or cord blood clinical trials, Insception offer the families in need program. This program provides the collection and storage of cord blood, free of charge, for children with a sibling a haematological malignancy (ie. leukemia) or with Cerebral Palsy. Certain criteria needs to be met to be accepted into the program including approval from Insception’s Medical Director in consultation with the referring physician.

For more information There is only one opportunity to store your baby’s cord blood stem cells – at birth. For more information, please contact Client Services at 1(866)606-2790 or info@insception.com

Links are to Insception.com website, and will open in a new tab.

References:
  1. Gluckman E, Broxmeyer HA, Auerbach AD, Friedman HS, Douglas GW, Devergie A, et al. Hematopoietic reconstitution in a patient with Fanconi’s anemia by means of umbilical-cord blood from an HLA-identical sibling. N Engl J Med 1989;321:1174–8.
  2. J Obstet Gynaecol Can 2015;37(9):832–844. The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada: Umbilical cord blood, counselling, collection and banking.
  3. Karen K. Ballen et al. Umbilical cord blood transplantation: the first 25 years and beyond. Blood. July 25, 2013 vol. 122 no. 4 491-498.
  4. https://bethematch.org/Support-the-Cause/Donate-cord-blood/Cord-blood-is-changing-lives/ (opens in a new tab)
  5. Zhao BML Medicine 2012, He, B. et al. journal of Diabetes 2015;7:762
  6. Min K, Song J et al. Stem Cells. 2013 Mar;31(3):581-91.
  7. Duke University, USA/NCT01147653/Kurtzberg Completed (*unpublished) Presented at CBS Jun 2015
  8. G. Dawson et al. Stem Cells Translational Medicine. 2017 Feb; 00:000-000 doi:10.1002/sctm.16-0474
  9. https://parentsguidecordblood.org/en (opens in a new tab)
  10. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ (opens in a new tab)
  11. http://www.anzctr.org.au/ (opens in a new tab)