September 8, 2010 By admin

Stem Cell Preservation

In the past decade, most new parents have been given a choice of banking their baby’s cord blood or donating it to a public storage bank. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity that is available when your baby is born and before the umbilical cord is discarded. Collecting cord blood from the umbilical cord is a five minute procedure and will not hurt the mother or more importantly, the baby. Umbilical cord blood stem cells are now being used to treat many malignant and non-malignant diseases and new uses for stem cells are being discovered everyday!

A lot of people ask why they should preserve cord blood and the answer is simple. As most women are aware, during pregnancy the umbilical cord is the lifeline between mothers and their unborn babies. Most of the time, after the delivery the umbilical cord is cut and then discarded. The stem cells that are in the cord blood are also discarded. These stem cells are an exact genetic match for the child. If you were to preserve them, you would be guaranteeing your child a source of perfectly matched stem cells in the event that they were to develop a life threatening disease that could be treated using these cells.

Stem cells are used to treat a variety of diseases such as leukemia, Hodgkin’s disease, along with other cancers, blood diseases and some immune system disorders. Researchers are striving to make stem cell transplants of use in fighting AIDS, Lupus, lung cancer and Multiple Sclerosis. The reason why they are so valuable is that stem cells have been known as the building blocks of blood and the immune system and also other tissues in our bodies. They can also transform into other cell types such as red blood cells and white blood cells and platelets. This is what makes them so valuable. They can replace other cells in our body that are abnormal, weakened or ruined by disease. In fact one of the main uses of stem cells is to replace abnormal bone marrow cells.

The Value of Cord Blood Storage

April 7, 2010 By admin

The Value of Cord Blood Storage

With all the excitement over a new pregnancy, parents reading a pamphlet on cord blood storage may not be as high on their list as, say, decorating the nursery. However, cord blood storage, also know as stem cell preservation, marks one of the most exciting ways that the new life about to enter the world will impact those around it. New parents have a chance to use cord blood storage to save lives.

Since 1990, doctors have used the ability to gather and preserve some of the ultra-rich stem cells that thrive in the blood of a newborn’s umbilical cord. The process known as cord blood storage is quite simply getting umbilical blood to a lab after drawing it from the severed umbilical cord at birth and putting it in to a deep freeze. The cord blood storage, or cryogenic process is so effective that cells remain viable for more than 20 years and may show minimal deterioration.

The “good part” of the cord blood storage story

Stem cells are among the most dynamic and adaptable cells in the entire body, and they can be found in a baby’s umbilical cord blood. Once retrieved from cord blood storage (the state of being cryogenically frozen), the cells may be utilized in a number of ways.

Currently, stem cells are most commonly utilized in transplant medicine to regenerate a patient’s blood and immune system after the patient has been treated with chemotherapy and/or radiation to destroy cancer cells. The list of diseases where stem cells can assist with the healing process is lengthy, and supports the value of cord blood storage a many times over. The list includes leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease, Aplastic Anemia, Sickle Cell Anemia, various other cancers, blood diseases, hereditary/genetic conditions and immune system disorders. In addition, current research holds significant promise for improving the treatment of some of the most common diseases such as heart disease, stroke, and Alzheimer’s with the stem cells preserved during cord blood storage.