With a sterile needle, they'll draw the blood from the umbilical vessels into a collection bag. The blood is packaged and sent to a cord blood bank for long-term storage. If you're thinking about banking your newborn's cord blood, talk about your options with your health care provider.
Your provider can discuss the advantages and disadvantages of public and private cord blood banking. Many doctors and researchers support saving umbilical cord blood. Most of us would have little use for stem cells now, but research into using them to treat diseases is ongoing — and the future looks promising.
If you want to donate your child's umbilical cord blood, talk to your health care provider or contact the hospital or birthing center where your baby will be born.
In addition, the stem cells in cord blood are less likely to cause rejection than those in bone marrow. It is easier to collect cord blood than it is to collect bone marrow. Collecting bone marrow poses some risks and can be painful for the donor. Cord blood can be frozen and stored.
It is ready for anyone who needs it. Bone marrow must be used soon after it is collected. Stem cells in cord blood can be used to strengthen the immune system during cancer treatments. Bone marrow stem cells do not have this capability. A disadvantage of cord blood is that it does not contain many stem cells. Units from several donors can be combined to increase the number of stem cells if a transplant is needed for an adult.
In an autologous transplant , the cord blood collected at birth is used by that same child. This type of transplant is rare for the following reasons:. All of the stem cells have the same genes that cause the disease. This kind of transplant is more likely to be done than an autologous transplant.
In an allogenic transplant, the donor can be a relative or be unrelated to the child. For an allogenic transplant to work, there has to be a good match between donor and recipient.
If the cells are rejected, the transplant does not work. Cord blood is kept in one of two types of banks: public or private. They differ in important ways that may affect your choice. Public cord blood banks store cord blood for allogenic transplants. They do not charge to store cord blood.
The stem cells in the donated cord blood can be used by anyone who matches. Some public banks will store cord blood for directed donation if you have a family member who has a disease that could potentially be treated with stem cells. Donors to public banks must be screened for blood or immune system disorders or other problems. Once it arrives at the blood bank, cord blood is tracked by computer so that it can be found quickly for any person who matches when needed.
Private or family banks store cord blood for autologous use or directed donation for a family member. Private banks charge a yearly fee for storage. Blood stored in a private bank must meet the same standards as blood stored in a public bank. If you have a family member with a disorder that may potentially be treated with stem cells, some private banks will store the cord blood free of charge.
The bank must be notified and a collection kit must be obtained in advance usually 6 weeks or more of your due date. Some hospitals have collection kits on hand, but others do not. Cord blood is collected by your obstetrician—gynecologist ob-gyn or the staff at the hospital where you give birth.
Following the suspension of our cord blood collection services we have now re-opened our collection sites, with the exception of Royal Free London - Barnet. Cord blood is the blood that remains in the placenta and umbilical cord following the birth of your baby. It is rich in blood stem cells, similar to those found in bone marrow, and these can be used to treat many different cancers, immune deficiencies and genetic disorders.
Blood-producing stem cells called haematopoietic stem cells are present in cord blood. These cells are what we call 'unspecialised', which means that they have the ability to develop into those parts of the blood that the patient's body requires; whether red blood cells, white blood cells or platelets.
Following the birth of your baby, your placenta is normally thrown away along with the cord blood that is in it. Thanks to scientific research in this field, we are constantly discovering more and more diseases and conditions that can be successfully treated with stem cells found within cord blood.
For the transplant to be a success, stem cells taken from the cord blood must match the patient's tissue type as closely as possible. So, for patients to have the best chance of a 'match' we need to store as many cord blood donations as possible, and we can't do this without you. If your cord blood is not collected by our trained staff, and you have not made alternative arrangements for your cord to be collected privately, your placenta containing your cord blood will be thrown away, according to routine hospital practice.
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