Banking Cord Blood – Will I Benefit From It?
The usage of cord blood lies at the discretion of your family. It can be beneficial if you have any existing condition that requires stem cells for the treatment. You can donate the blood to the public bank for others in need.
One can use the blood to cure more than 70 kinds of diseases, including immune disorders, bone marrow failure syndrome, blood cancers, blood disorders, cerebral palsy, autism, and type 1 diabetes. The usage of cord blood can also be seen in regenerative medicine clinical trials for different conditions.
Benefits Of Banking Cord Blood
There are various reasons why one should opt for cord banking. It can help protect your baby from more than 80 kinds of diseases. The best part is you can have affordable cord blood banks at $19.99 per month to store your child’s stem cells.
In addition to that, you can also choose cord blood banking due to the following reasons:
● Easy To Collect
The mother of the baby experiences no risk or pain while extracting the blood from the umbilical cord. Also, the collection process becomes easier when it gets performed during the time of cutting the cord. On the other hand, bone marrow collection requires an elaborate surgical process with general anesthesia. It also has its own inherent risk.
● Better Match
To successfully transplant the stem cells, one must have a proper match with the receiver. You can find stem cells in various public databases. But the chances of finding the match in such areas are quite low. One can also experience complications during unrelated blood transfusions. Hence if you can get genetically related stem cells from any blood-related family member, it would result in a successful transplant.
Sometimes one’s stem cells offer a perfect match for themselves. Whereas the parents can have a partial match.
● Lesser Risk And Complications
The cord blood cells are well accepted by the body. It helps to reduce the risk of graft-versus-host disease. It occurs when the transplanted cell tends to attack the body. The complication takes place during the transplant of the stem cells. For instance, in identical twins, there happens to be a lower chance of suffering from graft versus host disease. While for blood-related family members, the chances are 35 to 45%. But in the case of unrelated individuals, the chances rise to 80%.
Apart from that, the stem cells of the cord tissues are prolific. They happened to reproduce vigorously. Along with that, these stem cells can transport to the area of physical damage or harm.
How To Collect
You need to inform your birthing professionals or hospital facility about your wish to collect cord blood. After you inform, you have to sign the required consent form. The process of cord banking requires a special cord collecting kit or equipment. The extraction happens right in the hospital after the birth of the newborn baby. As soon as the baby comes out of the mother’s womb, the health care professional clamps the umbilical cord and cuts it. With the help of a needle, the professional draws out the blood from the cord and stores the same in the designated bag.
The entire process takes about 10 minutes and does not require any involvement with the baby.
Sometimes the extraction becomes impossible due to the following reasons:
● The place where you give birth does not perform cord blood extractions.
● You may not have any insurance coverage over the cost, and the cost of doing it is expensive.
● If your baby is premature, the professional would be incapable of taking out enough blood.
● If you delay the decision of clamping the umbilical cord, the professionals would not be able to extract the cord blood.
● If you face any emergency during the delivery, the health care professional word prioritizes you and your baby’s health over the process of cord blood banking.
The Future Holds A Lot
No one can predict the future. But there can be a lot of possibilities to treat various diseases using stem cells. Conditions like diabetes, heart failure, Alzheimer’s, or even spinal cord damage can get cured using cord blood. Storing the blood cell can help to combat these diseases.