During pregnancy, the umbilical cord serves as the baby’s lifeline to the mother and the placenta, providing food and oxygen to the developing baby. In the past, the umbilical cord was discarded, but medical advances in the last twenty years have shown that the umbilical cord contains potentially life-saving stem cells.
The blood in the umbilical cord and the placenta is unique because it contains a large number of blood stem cells. The blood stem cells from cord blood are being researched for their potential to treat life threatening diseases. For many victims of leukemia, lymphoma, immune deficiency syndrome or certain types of anemia, stem cell transplants are a necessary part of treatment for the diseases. The blood stem cells can come from circulating blood, donated bone marrow or cord blood from the umbilical cord. Although some patients have a family member who is a matching donor, more than 75 percent of patients do not. Umbilical cord blood donations to a public cord blood bank give more patients hope for finding a match.
When a mother decides to donate her child’s umbilical cord blood, she has to look for a cord blood bank in her community. Because cord blood banking is relatively new, some communities do not have cord blood banks nearby. The cord blood bank has the mother complete a questionnaire and sign a consent form and provide a blood sample.
Collecting umbilical cord blood is not dangerous to the mother or the baby. The cord blood is collected after delivery, and no collection is made if there are complications during delivery.
After the baby’s birth, the umbilical cord is normally clamped, breaking the link between the baby and the placenta, so the baby has to breathe on its own. To collect cord blood, a medical staff drains the blood from the umbilical cord and placenta. A needle is used to obtain the blood from the umbilical cord and the blood is deposited into a blood bag.
On average, three to five ounces of blood are collected from the umbilical cord. The collected cord blood is taken to a laboratory and tested for possible diseases or infection. The umbilical cord blood has been shown to be effective in treatment after it has been stored for thirteen years, but medical experts are unsure of the exact life span of the cord blood.
Many private facilities also store umbilical cord blood, but charge between $1,000 and $1,500 for the initial procession and collection and a $100 yearly maintenance fee. Medical professionals recommend storing umbilical cord blood in a private facility like these, where the cord blood is not open for use by the general public, if there is a history of disease in the family where blood transplants are necessary (for example, if a sibling had leukemia). If cord blood is not stored privately, it is available for any patient to access as long as it is a match with their blood type. If storing cord blood is too expensive or unnecessary to you, donate it to save the lives of other people in need.
By Virginia Zignego