Cord blood banking: a different aspect for safer future
In
order to understand the cord blood banking, first of all we have to understand
the cord blood.
What is cord blood?
It is the blood in your baby's
umbilical cord (In placental mammals,
the umbilical cord (also called the navel string, birth cord or funiculus umbilicalis) is a conduit between
the developing embryo or fetus and the placenta).
Cord blood contains stem cells that
have properties to grow into blood vessels, organs, and tissues.
Researches are going on along with
clinical trials on cord blood to explore their suitability for helping those with
Spinal cord injuries, brain injury, autism, and other conditions. These specialized cells
are already used to treat dozens of diseases.
So your baby's cord blood can be
collected by professionals at birth and stored for future use if required to
fight some diseases if any.
What is cord blood banking?
Cord blood banking involves in
collecting blood left in newborn's umbilical cord and placenta and storing it
for future medical use if required, because cord blood contains potentially
lifesaving cells called stem cells.
For cord blood storage, you have two
main options:
You can donate your baby's cord
blood to a public cord blood bank for anyone who needs it.
You can pay to store your baby's
cord blood in a private cord blood bank for your family's use.
Benefits of cord blood banking?
Cord blood offers a number of advantages to donors and transplant recipients. It is easy to collect, often more likely to provide a suitable match and is stored frozen, ready to use.
Now as we know that cord blood is a
rich source of blood stem cells so it is very beneficial to store the cord
blood.
Stem cells are the building blocks
of the blood and immune system of the body. Stem cells have the ability to
develop into other types of cells, so they can help repair tissues, organs, and
blood vessels if needed in future. Patients with conditions like leukemia, for
instance, chemotherapy is often used to rid their body of diseased cells so
that normal blood cell production can be restored. Once that happens, the
disease goes into remission.
Stem cells are also found in bone
marrow, human embryos, fetal tissue, hair follicles, baby teeth, fat,
circulating blood, and muscle. Every part of the human body contains some stem
cells, but sadly most of them are not a rich enough source to be harvested for
therapeutic applications.
If the treatment fails or disease
recurs, however, doctors often do a stem
cell transplant. It is a transfusion of stem cells from the bone marrow,
peripheral blood (blood in the bloodstream), or cord blood from a healthy donor
can help create a new blood and immune system, giving the patient a better
chance of making a full recovery.
Unlike the stem cells in bone marrow
or peripheral blood, stem cells in cord blood are immature and haven't yet
learned how to attack foreign substances. It's easier to match transplant
patients with cord blood than with other sources of stem cells because the cord
blood stem cells are less likely to reject the transfusion.
How is cord blood collected?
Cord blood is collected right after
birth. The collection process is painless and safe for you and your baby.
In
fact, it's so quick and painless that parents – caught up in holding and
bonding with their new baby – are often unaware it has even happened.
Here's how it's done?
Clamping and cutting the cord
After you've delivered your baby,
whether vaginally or by c-section, the cord is clamped and then cut in the
usual way – either by your partner or your Doctor or medical professional.
You can delay cord clamping, as long
as the delay is brief – no more than a minute or two. (If cord clamping is
delayed too long, the blood in the cord will clot. And once the blood clots,
it's of no benefit to anyone – it doesn't go to your baby and can't be
collected for storage.)
Extracting the cord blood
Your doctor or healthcare
professional then inserts a needle into the umbilical vein on the part of the
cord that's still attached to the placenta. It is safe and pain free as the needle doesn't
go anywhere near your baby.
Now the blood drains into a collection
bag. Commonly, 30 to 140 milliliter of blood is collected. The entire process
takes less than 10-15 minutes.
Shipping:
The blood is shipped to a cord blood
bank, where it's tested, processed, and cryopreserved (preserved by controlled
freezing) for long-term storage.
Some family cord blood banks now
offer to collect a segment of the umbilical cord in addition to the cord blood.
Umbilical cord tissue contains stem cells that are different from cord blood
stem cells, and researchers are studying their possible use in future.
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