Have You Thought About Storing Your Baby’s Cord Blood? Cord Blood Can Be Stored For Treatment Of A Variety Of Diseases, Genetic Disorders and Cancers. Cord Blood Can Be Frozen For Private Or Public Use!
Cord Blood Banking
Here We Explore Some Questions About Cord Blood Freezing
Have you weighed up the advantages of storing infant cord blood?
The entire process of harvesting cord blood begins with a pregnancy. Once you have become pregnant there are decisions to be made about cord blood. Gaining insight through reading about the history of cord blood is a great place to begin. There may be issues about stem cell research that you are unaware of or that you have misunderstood. By being informed you can weigh up the advantages and disadvantages. After this process you are then better placed to decide if preserving umbilical cord materials for your own future use or whether donating the cord blood for general purposes is suitable for you and your family.
Do you have a family history of certain diseases or genetic conditions?
The main cases in which it would be worthwhile for a family to privately store its infants cord blood is if there is a history of certain genetic disorders or cancers in the family, particularly childhood cancers and genetic disorders.
If your family has a history of certain diseases and genetic conditions, it could be an important investment to store the cord blood. This investment can reassure parents and families that if in the event a family member does fall ill with one of the known diseases or genetic condition in their family history, they have an option for treatment.
This is still a new procedure, to use cord blood to treat diseases. This option for treatment could prove more successful than any other options available or ones that require lengthy waiting periods for matches and availability.
Public storage of cord blood can be very useful for unrelated individuals in place of treatments like bone marrow transplants.
In some cases, the cord blood can be unexpectedly useful, for private or public purposes. The public storing of cord blood is expected to be expanded in the coming period.
Cord blood is a safer, more readily available alternative for patients who require a bone marrow transplant. A minority of patients who need a bone marrow transplant have available relatives who can give one to them. By having cord blood banked and available to the public, more of these people's lives could be saved.
Studies show that the cord blood is more potent in generating new blood producing cells than the bone marrow transplant. According to information from the March of Dimes organization, it is much more important to have cord blood available for potential use of unrelated individuals.
Using cord blood is a largely experimental procedure which has been used only since 1988. It has obtained successful results in many cases. Over 6,000 patients worldwide have had cord blood transplants over the last 18 years, and most have been to unrelated individuals. There are about 300 cases where cord blood was used to treat and possibly save the life of the brother or sister of the infant who provided the cord blood.
What sort of disease can cord blood be used for?
Diseases that have been treated with cord blood include Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia, Solid Tumors, Sickle Cell Anemia, Thalassemia, Neuroblastoma and Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma.
If I decide I want to store my babies cord blood what is the process? Are there any risks?
Expecting parents can make arrangements to store the cord blood before the baby is born. The cord blood is collected within 15 minutes of the birth of the child. There is no risk to either the mother or the baby in collecting this blood, since the umbilical cord and the attached placenta must come out of the body of the mother and be detached from the infant in any case.
Is the cord blood tested?
After your baby's cord blood arrives at a storage facility, tests will be performed to determine whether there are any infectious diseases such as hepatitis, leukemia, and HIV/AIDS. In some cases the blood will be stored with the associated risks noted. Parents can then assess if the risk of the disease present in the blood outweighs the need for the stem cells.
How is the blood prepared for storage?
Cord blood that is stored will endure several steps before being banked. Division is the first step. Separation perhaps is a better description. There are scientific processes that create separation. One way is with a centrifuge and the other is sedimentation. Either process is equally effective.
Red blood cells (RBC) will be on the bottom, white blood cells (WBC) in the center and plasma on the top. The center layer, also known as the "buffy coat" contains the stem cells. Stem cells are what the preserving of cord blood is really all about, and most storage banks stop at that step.
There are banks that feel the need to take the process further in order to condense the materials necessary to store. Less material to store means more space for storage and less cryogenic nitrogen needed. In this final separation stage the mononuclear cells are removed from the white blood cells.
Removal of the red blood cells creates compatibility with more recipients. Some people may have the same human leukocyte antigens (HLA) which is essential for successful transplantation of stem cells but this donor and recipient may not have the same blood type. Removal of the red blood cells considerably minimizes the possibility of rejection and other adverse reactions to stem cell transplants.
Once the cord blood is processed to be frozen, how long does it last?
Once this last step is completed the stem cell is frozen. Cryogenic storage was once a thing of fiction novels and wild imaginations. Long-term storage is becoming a common aspect of not only medical research but of medical science in general. Cord blood can presently be stored up to eighteen years and retain a high percentage of its original effective components. There is a fee to recover and test the blood, which can be as much as $2,000, and also a yearly fee to store the blood, which is frozen.