'' These days, more new parents are considering cord blood and cord tissue
banking because of all the great things that preserving their baby’s newborn
stem cells has the potential to do.
Current applications for newborn stem cells include treatments for certain cancers and blood, metabolic and immune disorders. Additionally, newborn stem cell preservation has a great potential to benefit the newborn’s immediate family members with stem cell samples preserved in their most pristine state '' .
Current applications for newborn stem cells include treatments for certain cancers and blood, metabolic and immune disorders. Additionally, newborn stem cell preservation has a great potential to benefit the newborn’s immediate family members with stem cell samples preserved in their most pristine state '' .
Source : Cord blood
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| Cord Blood Banking Everything you need to know |
What is cord blood ?
Cord blood, also called placental blood, is the blood that is present in
the placenta and in the umbilical cord. It is interesting from a medical point
of view because it contains hematopoietic stem cells, which produce throughout
our lives all the cells present in the blood :
red blood cells that transport oxygen .
white blood cells that fight infections.
the pads that stop the bleeding.
Donating cord blood means giving a patient the opportunity to make a new
blood and in some cases to heal.
What diseases can be treated with cord blood ?
In general, stem cells present in cord blood are used to treat blood
diseases that are mostly cancers, such as leukemias or lymphomas.
Stem cells in cord blood have the advantage of being naïve, that is,
they potentially generate less immunological complications after transplant
than in bone marrow transplantation. However, cord blood can not be indicated
in all cases because it has other characteristics that are sometimes less
favorable than the bone marrow.
Why do we need to have cord blood donated to public cord blood banks?
'' Cord blood donated to a public bank provides another source of hope for patients
who have no matching donor in their own family, no unrelated donor in bone
marrow donor registries that is a suitable match or no time to find a donor. As
with bone marrow, cord blood stem cells may be capable of generating all the
cellular elements in the blood and immune system '' .
Source : National Cord Blood Program
Collecting cord blood - fast, simple and painless :
after birth, midwives can collect blood from the umbilical cord, also
known as placental blood, provided the mother has given her consent and has
been warned of the purpose of the collection. This cord blood is of major
therapeutic interest it contains haematopoietic stem cells. The same as those
present in the bone marrow and which give birth, throughout our life, to all
the cells of the blood.
‘’ Once the collection is complete, they will seal the bag, attach the
pre-printed label with your family’s information, and place it in the
collection kit. A medical courier will pick up the kit from your hospital room
and transport it to a storage facility or simply to public cord blood banks , where lab
specialists will process the cord blood in preparation for long-term storage ‘’
. ( Source : Viacord )
Placental blood transplantation is a therapeutic alternative to
transplant with bone marrow donor. Like it, it helps treat blood diseases that
are mostly cancers, such as leukemias or lymphomas, explains Dr. Evelyne Marry,
director of the registry France Marrow Transplant at the Agency of Biomedicine.
To treat patients, doctors can use placental blood, if the other options have
been failures.
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