Cord Blood Storage: Protection for the Future

If you are in the process of trying to preserve your child’s umbilical cord blood, you need to know how effective these methods are and how stem cells are preserved. Cord blood storage is a costly procedure, so finding out details before you proceed is important.

In the process of cold blood storage, the umbilical cord blood is stored in a special bag or a syringe and taken to a blood bank. The health professional will then label the bag or syringe with the donor’s name, birth date and any other relevant facts. The blood is then assigned a registration number to identify it. After that the umbilical cord blood is sent to a processing laboratory to undergo a cryopreservation process.

At the storage lab, the blood temperature is reduced slowly so that it does not go into temperature shock. The reduction will read no less than -190 degrees. After the temperature of the umbilical cord blood is reduced, the blood then goes to a liquid nitrogen tank to keep the temperature steadily at -190 degrees.  As long as the cord blood is stored and preserved correctly in these different forms of storages, it can potentially last forever.

If you donate the umbilical cord blood to a public bank, the stem cells may be used for saving the lives of others. This storage will cost you nothing, and it may save a life because doctors and researchers can pull from these banks to find cures and treat patients in need. But, however, there is a shortage of public cord blood banks. Most facilities are at their capacity and many donors are turned away because there just isn’t any room or resources to store more cord blood. More funding is desperately needed so that research and storage can be expanded.