The Benefits Of Cord Blood Stem Cells
Banking your child's cord blood stem cells can change or even save a life.
The lifesaving power of the umbilical cord blood is no longer a secret. Cord blood stem cells are a better alternative to bone marrow in transplants, and have been used for 20 years to treat more than 80 life-threatening diseases and disorders.
Today stem cell therapies continue to evolve, bringing new hope to patients and their families. Below are just a few diseases and disorders that have been treated successfully with cord blood stem cells:
Cancer
Acute Leukemia
Chronic Leukemia
High-Risk Solid Tumors
Hodgkin & Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma
Myelodysplastic Syndromes
Blood Disorders
Aplastic Anemia
Beta Thalassemia
Diamond-Blackfan Anemia
Fanconi Anemia
Sickle Cell Disease
Immune Disorders
Chronic Granulomatous Disease
Histiocytic Disorders
Leukocyte Adhesion Deficiency
Severe Combined Immunodeficiency Diseases
Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome
Metabolic Disorders
Krabbe Disease
Hurler Syndrome
Metachromatic Leukodystrophy
Sanfilippo Syndrome
Saving or donating cord blood stem cells makes them available to treat diseases like those listed above. For inherited genetic conditions, the patient may not be able to use his or her own stem cells. In these cases, a matched sibling's stem cells would be the first choice. Family banking also offers access to current regenerative medicine clinical trials in autism, traumatic brain injury, and cerebral palsy.
The lifesaving power of umbilical cord blood stem cells and the regenerative healing of cord tissue is no longer a secret. As stem cell treatments and research advance, more and more parents are opting to bank their newborn baby's cord blood and tissue. Find out how stem cells are being used in medicine today.
Umbilical cord blood is the blood remaining in the cord after your baby has been born and the cord has been cut and clamped. It contains valuable stem cells that can be used in a variety of medical treatments such as regenerating the immune system after chemotherapy. Stem cells are known as ”˜the building blocks of life'. They have the unique ability to become other types of cells in the body such as the blood, nerve cells, muscle, bone, and cartilage.
Why are umbilical stem cells so valuable?
Cord blood stem cells can only be collected at birth, so it is important to make the decision to do cord tissue storage several weeks before your due date.
Cord Tissue stored at birth have many advantages - they are readily available for your family if needed, they are considered to be the ”˜youngest and freshest' type of stem cell, and importantly there is a greater potential of a stem cell match between siblings.
Stem cells from the cord blood have been used for more than 20 years for the treatment of a number of disorders of the blood such as leukemia, lymphoma and thalassemia, which previously had been treated with bone marrow.
The umbilical cord blood collection process
After the safe delivery of your child, your obstetrician or midwife cleans the umbilical cord (with the materials provided in the Cells4Life kit) and inserts the blood bag needle into the umbilical vein. The blood flows into the bag by gravity. The blood bag tubing is clamped, sealed and labeled to await courier collection. The whole process takes only a few minutes and causes no pain for mother or baby.
About the Author
Darren Keast is the author of this article on Cord Tissue Storage.
Find more information, about Tissue Typing Service here
Submitted on: 2014-07-28 22:50:23