Helping your child with
blood cord banking.

What exactly can cord blood do for my baby?

The welfare of a child is the most important thing to parents and blood cord banking is being dubbed as the latest way to protect your child's welfare but is it really all it's cracked up to be? Umbilical cord blood is rich in stem cells that can be used to treat a number of deadly diseases. The stem cells found in umbilical cords show an exceptionally high level of plasticity meaning that they could potentially be 'trained' to develop into any other cell, tissue or organ found in the human body.

Cells are the building blocks of the body but stem cells act more like malleable putty. They can be shaped and molded to create anything that is required of them. Once they start to be formed, however, they lost a lot of the level of plasticity they once had and while they still have invaluable uses they are limited to the functions they can perform. Before cord blood was used, bone marrow was the only source of stem cells that was regularly used. Bone marrow transplants are used for patients that have problems specifically related to their blood stream and this is because the bone marrow stem cells have already begun to take shape as specialist blood cells and, as such, they cannot be transformed into anything else.

The stem cells found in umbilical cord can at present be used to treat patients that have blood related diseases, specifically leukemia and sickle cell anemia. Blood cord banking means that if your child becomes sick with one of the diseases that stem cells can help then he or she will have access to a source of these helpful cells. In fact, if a sibling of your child or even another family member becomes ill and the stem cells from your baby's umbilical cord blood are a match then they can be used to help cure the patient.

There are currently over 40 diseases that umbilical cord blood can help, but research is ongoing and there are already very strong signs that congenital heart failure and other diseases will be treatable using these stem cells. Most of the research conducted has been carried out on animals but with some very positive results. Further research is also carried out using computer modeling to give doctors an insight as to the success and potential problems of using cord blood to treat other diseases, and one such advances is stem cells spine injury autograft discoveries that have been made. This treatment will allow patients with severe spinal injuries to walk again and lead a normal, healthy life.

What are the advantages over bone marrow donation?

The main advantage of blood cord banking when compared to relying on bone marrow transplant is that the procedure is much more simple and entirely painless. Bone marrow donation is painful for the donor and often a fairly long recovery time is needed. Cord blood is taken from the blood cord once baby has been born and the cord has been clamped and cut as normal. No needles or other equipment will go near your baby or you and the birthing procedure will be unaffected should you choose to store or donate cord blood.

Cord blood is much more primitive and this means that a patient's immune system is less likely to see cord blood as a threat when compared to bone marrow transplants. Because the immune system does not feel threatened it does not fight the new cells in the belief that they are alien. This means that rejection is much less likely using cord blood. The reverse is also true, as well, and the blood is more likely to accept the new host and perform the tasks it should with very little resistance.

Cord blood is preferred to bone marrow.

Cord blood has a much greater level of stem cells than a similar amount of bone marrow. In fact, it is believed that on average cord blood has ten times as many stem cells than bone marrow does. All in all cord blood is preferred to bone marrow for many reasons in particular availability. Tens of thousands of patients every year contract diseases such as leukemia and sickle cell anemia and without quick treatment they can prove deadly. As many as 70% of these patients do not receive the transfusion they require because bone marrow donors are difficult to come by. Cord blood is in plentiful supply and by storing your baby's own cord blood you can guarantee a match should he or she need the blood.

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