Umbilical Cord Stem Cell Banking

The modern world of medicine has seen a lot of improvement in terms of stem cell research. As much controversy that it has been receiving, it is also an important milestone in the area of regeneration. Today, stem cells from cord blood are an option against the painful and taxing bone marrow transplant.

Saving the umbilical cord blood can be a very good option for parents who want to be insured of a solution for the future. The good thing about umbilical cord stem cell banking is that it can be saved for a whole lifetime. This means that if you are able to save your childs umbilical cord blood, you can have stem cells extracted at any point of his life. Additionally, you can also use this cord blood incase siblings will need it. So umbilical cord stem cell banking is beneficial.

How is the Umbilical Cord Stem Cell Harvested?

When a baby is born the umbilical cord is usually just discarded. With the umbilical cord stem cell banking, the cords can be saved for future use. Stem cells harvest in this cord blood can is a very powerful fighter of many age old diseases like leukemia, lymphoma, and other immune diseases.

Would be mothers are actually given the chance to choose if they will have their newborns cell harvested. The harvesting or collection itself is not at all painful and does not harm the mother or child in any way. There are two ways on how umbilical cord stem cell is harvested.

The Bag Method, the doctor or midwife will usually wait until the umbilical cord stops pulsating. This usually happens 5 minutes for natural delivery and about 15 minutes in medicated delivers (including natural and C section). The doctor or midwife will then clamp the umbilical cord and cut it. Once done, the placentas as well as the cord are elevated and with the help of gravity, they let the blood drain to from the cord to a special bag.

Another method the Syringe Method, the caregiver usually wait for the umbilical cord to stop pulsating then clamp and cut it. Just like the bag method, the blood will be harvested from the cord using a syringe and placing it in a bag.

Harvesting umbilical cord blood is painless to both mother and child. If would be parents decide to donate their childs umbilical cord blood or harvest them for future use, they will need to let the doctor as well as the cord blood bank know before the 34th week of pregnancy.

After the collection of cord blood is completed it will be tested for any diseases. If ever a disease is discovered the family of the child will automatically be notified. If all goes well the blood will be frozen slowly. The good thing about umbilical blood stem cell banking is that it can be stored indefinitely or until the person will need it in the future, this makes umbilical cord blood a great biological insurance.

What are Stem Cells and How Can they Help?

Stem cells are undifferentiated cells; they will eventually become an individualized cell type. To date medical researches have found at least 70 kinds of diseases and disorders that can be corrected or treated using stem cell transplant.

Stem cells can only be sourced from two parts of the body one is from bone marrow and the second is from a newborns umbilical cord. Stem cells that can be harvested from umbilical cord are easy to collect as well as painless. The problem with umbilical cord blood stem cell is that it is difficult to find a right match; it best works for family members like siblings.