Cord Blood Banking in a Nutshell
Science and technology has evolved immensely over the years and have helped numerous fields including medical. This has helped human race to come a long way, from throwing the umbilical cord away considering it a ‘waste’ to preserving the umbilical cord blood in designated cord blood banks. The reason for this shift is that the stem cells found in the cord blood have lifesaving ability.
Stem cells are a type of indistinguishable cells that have the ability to differentiate into specialized cell types. Usually, stem cells come from two different sources such as embryos that are formed during the blastocyst phase of embryonic stem cells and adult stem cells. Below are some reasons that will help you know the importance of cord blood banking.
Reasons to Store Cord blood
• Cord blood transplant is helpful in treatment of life-threatening diseases such as sickle cell anemia, leukemia, lymphoma, and even thalassemia.
• Besides the donor, their siblings or any other family member can benefit from cord blood.
• The chances of rejection of the transplanted cord blood stem cells are relatively low.
• Life-threatening side effects after the blood transplant are very low.
• You will not have to search for a donor, if you have donated the cord blood during child birth.
How Cord Blood is Stored
The umbilical blood is collected after the umbilical cord is detached from the mother. Though, doctors also have the option of collecting the blood before the placenta is expelled. Whatever strategy is adopted, the blood has to be transported to the chosen bank.
If the doctors decide to collect the cord blood before removing the placenta, umbilical cord is clamped & detached normally. The blood is then stored in a bag and transported to the donation center. The entire process is performed by professionals with utmost care and is painless. In this case, you have a choice of selecting a private or public cord blood bank. A private bank helps you keep the blood preserved exclusively for future use of the family. Private Banks are often more expensive. However, If you decide to select a public bank, you might save a lot of money but the blood will be available for use by general public.
Once the cord blood reaches the blood bank, it is analyzed for tissue type as well as for the presence of any communicable disease like malaria, AIDS, and hepatitis. After conclusive results the sample is processed in order to isolate the red blood and is cryopreserved with liquid nitrogen for future use. Keep in mind that the decision to preserve the cord blood has to be made before the delivery.
Final Word
According to the recent stats, around 1 million units of cord blood are preserved in private banks across the US. Be the Match Registry offers around 185, 000 donated cord blood units across the US with more than 425, 000 cord blood units through international registries and other partnerships.
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