What You Should Know About Cord Blood Preservation
Cord blood preservation is a new way to preserve stem cells for future use as well as for research. Cord blood is blood that remains in the placenta and umbilical cord after a live human birth. Following birth, the umbilical cord is cut and the placenta and remaining cord and blood are disposed of. This blood has been found to be a rich source of stem cells that are unique to your genetic makeup. These stem cells are the master cells of the body and have the potential to reproduce into many different types of cells. Stem cells are the building blocks of your body.
Ideally, if preserved properly, it should last for forever. Again, this is debatable, as the concept of cord blood banking is relatively new. It started in the 1970′s, and no sufficient evidence is yet available to prove that your baby′s umbilical cord blood will last its whole life. However, it has been proved in numerous cases that it can be saved for 15 years have been successfully used in transplants.
A process called cord blood banking allows parents to save the umbilical cord blood for possible future use. Cord blood cell preservation will allow the family to use the cells in the future to help the body to grow normal cells when disease has taken over. By preserving the child?s stem cells you are helping to keep a biological resource for your family.
Cord Blood Bank Implies Cost - Preserving stem cell cord blood for deployment purposes, at a later stage, entails cost of storage. It is not a free service and usually accompanies a substantial processing fee followed by sizeable annual storage fee. The entire payment scheme works out to be on the expensive side. One might consider this as positive investment, especially considering the benefits rendered by cord blood banking, however all pockets might not have the capacity to make such extensive investments as cord blood banking.
Once at the bank, the cord blood is tested to ensure that it meets basic standards. Then it is treated and placed into special containers for preservation. The exact length of storage is unknown at this time, however, cord stem cells that were stored for fifteen years were successfully used with no degradation.
Cord blood cell preservation is already making a difference by saving more lives. The future of stem cell transplant for many diseases looks bright due to this new advancement. As science advances, the uses for stem cells will increase with the potential to treat or cure many illnesses in the future.
Tags: Fitness
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
