Cord Blood Banking: Donate it to protect your family health. Read here!
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Why cord blood banking?
Cord Blood is a blood in newborn's umbilical cord, which is a rich
source of stem cells that can grow into organs, blood vessels and tissues. It can
be collected at the time of birth. In fact, the process is so safe, quick and
painless does not pose any harm to both the baby and the mother. It hardly
takes five minutes of time.
Benefits of cord Blood Banking:
These stem cells are similar to those found in bone marrow, today
they can be used to treat over 80 life-altering
or life-threatening diseases like sickle cell, Parkinson’s disease, cancer,
Bone Marrow Failure, Leukemia, Neuroblastoma, Lymphomas, Anemia, Osteopetrosis,
Spinal cord injury and certain immunologic disorders.
The collected blood from the umbilical cord contains HPC cells
(Hematopoietic Progenitor) and to form blood related cells in the human body. These
HPC stem cells are injected to the persons suffering from deadly diseases to replenish
their blood supply with new healthy cells.
Further, these steam cells speed up the healing process in the
human body and strengthen the immune system. To sum it up they can easily adjust
to the host's body and repair damaged tissue.
One of the most important point to note here is that the stems
cells present in cord blood do not have any expiry date.
Moreover, preserving those potential life-saving stem cells in
special cord blood storage or cord blood banks (Private and Public cord blood
banks) for the future is called “Cord Blood Banking”.
In the Public cord blood bank, the donated cord blood of your baby
of can be used to treat people in need.
In the Private cord blood bank, you have to pay to for the storage
for future usage of your family for treatment.
In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration regulates
cord blood under the category of “Human Cells, Tissues, and Cellular and Tissue
Based-Products.” The Code of Federal Regulations under which the FDA regulates
public and private cord blood banks is Title 21 Section 1271.
How Cord Blood is Collected?
After the delivery of the child (whether C-Section or vaginally), a
minimum quantity of 75 ml cord blood is collected in a special blood bag (sterile
bags or vials). This entire process of drawing blood should be performed before
the placenta is ejected.
At the same time, the blood bag to be shipped to the storage
center within 48 hours without delay. The stem
cells in the umbilical cord blood are harvested and finally stored at −196°C.
Meanwhile, in the lab, the collected cord blood should be tested
for certain properties. It must be free from diseases and infection. It is
frozen, stored and listed on the Registry for future usage to the people in
need.
In under any circumstances, Names of donors are never shared.
If you are pregnant, now it’s a time to consider collecting your
child’s cord blood. After all, the thought of cord blood donation is a good
idea and a generous gift to save someone else’s life.
Image source: http://www.bonemarrowmx.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/infog-stem.jpg