Cord blood bank private banks, partly because most treatable conditions can't use one's own cord blood. Cord blood contains hematopoietic stem cells (which can differentiate only into blood cells), and should not be confused with embryonic stem cells or pluripotent stem cells, which can differentiate into any cell in the body. Cord blood stem cells are blood cell progenitors which can form red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. This is why cord blood cells are currently used to treat blood and immune system related genetic diseases, cancers, and blood disorders. On the possibility that cord blood stem cells could be used
Family history (medicine) Family history (medicine) In medicine, a family history (FH or FHx) consists of information about disorders from which the direct blood relatives of the patient have suffered. Genealogy typically includes very little of the medical history of the family, but the medical history could be considered a specific subset of the total history of a family. Accurate knowledge of a patient's family history may identify a predisposition to developing certain illnesses, which can inform clinical decisions and allow effective management or even prevention of conditions. Although sometimes neglected, many healthcare professionals glean information on family morbidity of particular diseases (e.g.