Cord Blood Storage – the Future is Now!

A generation or so ago, very few people had heard of cord blood storage. Nowadays it’s appealing to more and more parents, especially people in larger cities. Here’s how the process works: Cord blood is extracted from the umbilical cord and placenta that is found with the delivery of a new baby, and sent to secure cord blood storage facility.

It’s important to note that parents should make advance arrangements for the cord blood to be collected in advance. Near the time of delivery, the cord blood bank will send a special kit to use to collect the cord blood for proper storage. Parents supply the kit to the medical staff at the hospital so they can gather the blood and send it to the bank for cordblood storage. The doctors and medical professionals at the cord blood bank will test it for infections, and once declared safe, they treat it specifically for long term cryogenic storage.

The point of going through this procedure is to ensure the healthy future of the child. Currently cordlood storage provided families with a safety net in case of disease. First used in cases of leukemia and other blood cancers as well as serious forms of anemia, cord blood is used today for more than 45 diseases and disorders. It’s also on the cutting edge of science, as new discoveries for its use are being made continually. There are hopes for using cord blood to enable spinal cord injury patients to be mobile again, repair livers, treat diabetes, help stroke victims, and a number of other miraculous uses.

Cord blood storage saves brand new, healthy stem cells for transplantation. Doctors and medical researchers are finding that cordblood stem cells work even better than those taken from bone marrow or other parts of the body. Stem cells are the basic blood cells from which all other types are born. When the stem cells from the umbilical cord are used, the fact that they haven’t been exposed to the outer environment is a big advantage. They are also more pliable because they are so young. Success rates from cord blood transplants are higher than any other.

New parents are willing to pay for cord blood storage in order to have an extra insurance policy for their children. If the child ever needs it, there is no doubt that it will be a perfect match. One of the side effects from other types of stem cell or bone marrow transplants is graph versus host disease (GVHD). That means that the receptor body doesn’t adapt well to the new cells and the patient often dies. That and the fact that there is so much new potential to come from cord blood storage is making many parents take another look at this option.

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Cord Blood,   Cord Blood Bank,   Cord Blood Banking,   Cord Blood Storage
Umbilical Cord Blood Stem Cells