Interesting Information
So have you heard of the term umbilical cord blood cell donation or collection?
It's an issue for expecting moms that have surfaced to the general news and media over the last 5-10 years especially.
Well, this is a relatively new phenomenon in the medical world where umbilical blood harvested or collected from the umbilical cord at birth can be used in a variety of medical and blood disorders, as an alternative to bone marrow transplantation.
So in this article, let's go through some details on what baby cord blood banking is all about
Let's consider in this article the basics of how cord blood is collected.
The steps are these:
After delivery of the baby, the umbilical cord is clamped in the usual manner and then the blood between the umbilical cord and the placenta is collected. This is done with a syringe and a resulting 5-6ml of blood is collected.
Next comes the transportation of the umbilical cord blood to a cord blood bank for processing and cryogenic storage.
Then the cord blood is either stored for a yearly fee if stored for private use. That is for the baby's future use in case he or she requires a cord blood transplant for illnesses such as leukemia or lymphoma.
If however, the cord blood was donated for public use, then the blood unit will be for example listed with the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) if the bank is affiliated with the NMDP program. This is like a search registry for doctors to find suitable donations of blood for ill patients.
Some banks are not associated with the NMDP however.
So there you go, the world of collecting umbilical cord blood is getting more well known every day.
More and more expecting moms and dads are considering cord blood as a means of health protection or insurance for their child in case of serious medical diseases.
Some of course are donating cord blood simply to help others in medical need and so is benefiting the community this way.
More medical research is under way including medical trials, to more closely assess the advantages of cord blood cells over traditional bone marrow transplantation for the treatment of leukemias, lymphomas, metabolic enzyme and storage diseases and immune diseases of childhood and inherited or congenital immune dysfunctions.
Watch this space for more news on cord blood.