The blood in the placenta and umbilical cord is what we called the “cord blood.” It is normally discarded after the birth of the baby, but it has the powerful stem cell usage in medical applications and treatment. Many studies revealed that it is for our good medical interest to have a cord blood bank, where we can store it since it can help in treating diseases like cerebral palsy and cancer.

The Cord Blood Stem Cell Treatment

Unlike the bone marrow stem cells, the cord blood stem cell treatment uses the cord blood adaption and grow it in another environment. This is done to treat deadly illness such as used for regenerative therapy for autism, or brain injuries and more. It is called the powerful stem cell since stem cells are found mostly in the blood system, and it is during birth and retaining the umbilical cord that we can get stem cells.

Cord Blood Stem cells can treat eighty diseases, even cancer! In usual cases, the medical practitioner or the doctor will seek for the matched stem cell donors. The stem cell from the cord blood is considered the highly adaptable stem cells since it does not require a perfect match with the donor and receiving the patient. In the past, the cord blood stem cells is an alternative option for individuals who could not undergo bone marrow transplant. In cord blood stem cells, it uses the immature stem cell, which is new and is not exposed to any disease which means that the one who will receive the stem cells will not suffer side effect when it is transplanted. It is also easier to collect and with no pain to its donor. Significantly, if one wants to heal faster or recover faster, he/she may also need a larger quantity of cells. The more cells, the lesser its side effect it can give to the person.

The HLA Match In Cord Blood Stem Cell

Normally, the doctor will do HLA matching as a preliminary step in doing stem cell treatment. In here, we need to have six identical proteins but since cord blood does not necessarily need for the perfect match, the options are very flexible and the chances to have the treatment is higher.

If in birth, the baby is found to have a disease, the baby can use his/her stem cell, but with patients who have cancer and another disease, he/she needs to get stem cell from another person or the new birth. If you or one from the family has an illness that can be treated with cord blood treatment, you may store baby’s cord blood to use in a transplant. There are storage or banks that offers for this services and programs.

The Need For Storing Cord Blood

The cord blood can be collected and stored for regenerative therapy in the future. Apart from it is easier to get donors, the matching for cord blood stem cell faster compared with the bone marrow treatment. It is collected after the pregnant woman gave birth and stored in frozen and secured storage for many years. One can decide whether they will store it in private bank or storage or donate it to a public bank.

Donating cord blood helps more patients who are in need of a transplant, and the receiver can benefit it for the long term. In the future, you can also use the public bank in getting cord blood for transplant. If you prefer to store it in private, an estimated annual fee of 150 dollars will be collected as storage fee while collecting as well as processing for banking may range from 1,500 to 2,500 dollars. There are many banks and storage for cord blood because there is a high need for patients to get cord blood stem cells and it is the best way to get donors without inflicting any harm neither to the mother nor the baby.