Harvesting and Cord Blood Banking

Delivery rooms provide the starting point in the process of cord blood banking

Many people will take the time and make the sacrifice to provide some form of assistance to others in need.  What about the possibility of making a small sacrifice that can potentially rescue someone else from a challenging disease or life-threatening medical condition? Most would make such a sacrifice, and many make such sacrifices every day.

Every day in hospital delivery rooms across the USA and other countries, the practice of cord blood banking is conducted as willing new mothers donate umbilical cords at birth previously used to nourish their newborns. This step is the starting point for cord blood banking – which involves the storage of cells taken from cord blood at incredibly low temperatures (down to -190 degrees). More precisely, cord blood is harvested within a mere 30 seconds of the newborn’s arrival; the umbilical cord is clamped and cut as usual, with the cord being transferred to a lab for cryopreservation. Importantly to this sacrifice for cord blood banking doesn’t cause any discomfort whatsoever for either mother or the new born.

Not a lot of cord blood is required for the storage process – just 75 ml on average (about 1/3 of a cup), but there are a number of ways to process a cord blood unit. Within the cord blood banking realm there are differing opinions on the best method for processing; some separate out the red blood cells and remove them while others keep the red blood cells. Generally speaking, though, both methods have proved to be equally effective.

Is cord blood banking safe?

Before blood from the umbilical cord is put in storage it undergoes viral tests including testing for HIV, Hepatitis B and C, and tissue typing, to insure safety. In addition, the National Cord Blood Program, located in New York, reports that cord blood stored over long periods of time shows no signs of deterioration whatsoever. The longest stored cord blood banking samples are now approximately sixteen years old and have been effectively transplanted just as successfully as the more current specimens.

So, the process is easy, safe and can be stored over long periods of time. The process of cord blood banking has been developed and perfected to today’s current scientific standards. Cord blood banking offers hope to many folks afflicted with blood disorders, immune deficiencies and genetic diseases – all based on the simple thoughtfulness and generosity of a new mom and her baby.