The umbilical cord of the baby contains potentially life-saving special cells which can be used for treating disease. During earlier times, in fact even today people throw them away with the placenta. But in today’s time, there are a lot of advertisements and discussions about the preservation of umbilical cord blood stem cells. Thus, more and more people becoming aware of umbilical cord blood banking and why they should store umbilical cord stem cells. In this post, we will discuss what these life-saving cells are and how they can be preserved.

What is Umbilical Cord Blood?

Umbilical cord blood is that blood which is present in the umbilical cord & placenta after the birth of your baby. This blood contains special cells known as hematopoietic stem cells which can be used in the treatment of certain diseases. Stem cells are considered special because they can grow into blood & immune system cells as well as various other types of cells. Cord blood stem cells are a great painless substitute for bone marrow stem cell transplants as they are much easier to collect.

How Is Cord Blood Collected?

Collection of cord blood is done at the time of your baby’s delivery by the doctor or the nursing staff taking care of you. The umbilical cord is clamped, and with the help of a needle, blood is drawn from the cord into a collection bag. The blood is then packed and sent to the umbilical cord blood banking company for its long-term storage. A sample of this blood is then tested to check its quality, and if the specimen is not sterile (contaminated by bacteria) or is insufficient, it cannot be used for banking.

Where Would It Be Stored?

One can choose to store umbilical cord blood in public or private banks. Stem cells stored at public cord blood banks are made available to anyone in need. These stem cells are matched with the patient who is needed. The stored cord blood is recorded in the database so that the right cord blood match can be found whenever there is a need. There is no charge to store umbilical cord blood in public cord blood banks. However, for making donations to public cord banks, you must be screened before the collection of the blood. This screening process basically involves a careful evaluation of the medical history of the parents & family of the donor. Therefore, the donation of cord blood for public banks costs nothing to the parents but can give hope to the patient in need.

When you store umbilical cord blood at private cord blood banks, it is kept exclusively for your family. It is basically for the families who are willing to invest in the future of their child and their siblings because you need to pay for preservation. Here your baby’s cord blood is preserved so that it might be required later for the treatment of the child or another member of the family. When you register for private cord blood banking, the company provides you with a collection kit and then relies on the obstetrician or midwife to collect the cord blood at the time of delivery and send it to the company’s laboratory for storage. These banks charge an initial setup fee and also a yearly fee. So, if you want to secure your child’s and other family member’s future investing in cord blood banking is the best way. This is because the cord blood has the potential to treat certain life-threatening disease and immune disorders.