The umbilical cord was one thought as a waste and not useful material, but now it is useful for blood (hematopoietic) stem cells. Cord blood is stored in the umbilical cord and placenta of a newborn baby. It can be easily taken after the baby is born, with no risk to the mother or baby. and frozen for later use. It does not need to be a perfect match it can be transplanted even with a partial match between recipient and donor. The cord bank can also send tubes so that the mother’s blood can be taken too, if necessary. The blood contains stem cells, these are rare cells usually found in the bone marrow. Stem cells rarely carry any infectious diseases and can make all the other cells found in the blood- red, white, platelets, and cells of the immune system. They are supposed to maintain and take care of blood production for the rest of your life. Cord blood is used to treat children with specific blood diseases. A family member is known to be at risk for a transplantable disease and this procedure helps decrease their chances of getting the diseases. Transplants of stem cells from cord blood can treat diseases like Leukemia, anemia, and some immune system disorders that disrupt your body’s ability to defend itself.
The umbilical cord is stored in either a public cord bank where they don’t charge anything for storage and any donation made is available when needed. You can also store it in a private cord bank where it will store it for the family and donor only. This can be expensive. Another option is direct donation banks where it’s a combination of public and private banks. They store cord blood for the public, but also accept donations for families.
This process is being done in various countries. In the ;United Kingdom they launched the first public- private blood bank, in 3 hospitals in London. It is also taking place in Spain, public, private, and cross-over from private to public. In Brazil they have a public cord bank at maternity hospital in Rio De Janeiro. In India they set up 4 locations across the country. In Australia they set up banks in Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane. The most inventory of 48,808 is with New York Blood Center’s National Cord Blood Program. In New England there is a Cord Blood Bank. Florida, New Jersey, Minnesota, California, Oregon, Colorado, North Carolina, Illinois, Michigan, Washington State, and Missouri.
There are a lot of advantages to the process. It is a very good idea. The process is harmless and has no health risks to the child or the mother. That is a very big pro. It is ready to be used, whenever you want, as it is stored until ready for usage. It does not need a perfect match. Cord blood can be transplanted even if there is only some sort of match between donor and recipient. The recipient is at fewer risks and complications with cord blood transplant. The immune cells in the cord blood have a much less chance to attack the tissue of patient, but with bone marrow transplant there is more of a chance. Cord blood is known to most likely not spread viruses like cytomegalovirus. Cytomegalovirus is a deadly infection that happens to transplant recipients. Cord blood promises the cure and solution to many critical diseases. Transplants of stem cells from cord blood can treat diseases like Leukemia, anemia, and some immune system disorders that disrupt your body’s ability to defend itself.
The frozen storage of umbilical cord blood has the potential for widespread use in the future. Blood banking has gotten better with time passing mainly because of the involvement and helping of organizations. More than 10,000 patients have gotten a cord blood transplant. there are more than 450,000 banking around the world for` future clinical use. Blood baking programs are usually funded mostly by public funds. A lot of experts say that public umbilical cord blood banking is a great idea because of its easy accessibility to many people around the world without any money contribution for the storage. Frozen storage of umbilical cord blood has a lot of potential future use.