Lifesaving Benefits of Cord Blood
The birth of a baby holds with it a miracle most parents aren’t aware of – the ability to save a life. A newborn’s cord blood stem cells have the potential to provide a lifesaving treatment for others.
Cord blood is a natural wonder that can only be obtained through the birth of a baby, offering powerful potential to help cure numerous diseases and save countless lives. With 4 million U.S. births annually, it’s a common misconception that hospitals have large amounts of cord blood saved; however, cord blood is collected in only 5% – 10% of annual U.S. births. What’s more, in 90% – 95% of all U.S. births each year, this valuable biological phenomenon is discarded as medical waste, losing countless health opportunities the intrinsic benefits cord blood provides.
July is designated as Cord Blood Awareness Month by the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Your local Capital Women’s Care team of women’s health professionals shares valuable knowledge about cord blood and its various uses; the donation, collection and storage processes; and benefits of cord blood collection.
What Is Cord Blood?
Cord blood is the blood and tissue derived from the placenta and a baby’s umbilical cord after delivery. Over time, doctors have realized the essential value of this blood and its many significant health advantages.
Cord blood contains cells called hematopoietic stem cells that can turn into any kind of blood cell. These cells can be used for transplants that can cure diseases like blood disorders, immune deficiencies, metabolic diseases and some kinds of cancers.
There is some advanced planning involved to collect and donate cord blood, which is why it’s important for those planning pregnancy or become pregnant to take it into serious consideration prior to giving birth. If a family has a known genetic problem that puts them at risk of developing an illness that could be treated with cord blood, then it makes sense to keep it for their family’s own private use. But if that isn’t the case, it makes more sense to approve cord blood collection and donation for public use, as it’s much more likely to be necessary for another family. When you donate cord blood, you donate something you’re unlikely to need, while helping to cure a disease and save another’s life.
Research is revealing more and more ways cord blood can save lives. Collecting and banking cord blood is completely safe for both mother and baby, with no impact or effect on either labor or delivery.
Cord Blood: A Natural Wonder
Hematopoietic stem cells can be used to treat more than 70 types of diseases, including diseases of the immune system, genetic disorders, neurologic disorders, and some forms of cancer, including leukemia and lymphoma. For some of these diseases, stem cells are the primary treatment. For others, treatment with stem cells may be used when other treatments have not worked or in experimental research programs.
When to Decide
Each hospital is different, but you should decide about cord blood collection before you reach 34 weeks of pregnancy. Also, not every hospital collects cord blood for public banks. What’s more, not every hospital has cord blood collection kits available, and some cord blood banks must send kits to the hospital each time; therefore, planning for cord blood collection is important prior to giving birth.
Donating Cord Blood
If you decide to either donate or bank your baby’s cord blood, you’ll need to fill out a consent form before collection and answer several questions about your health history. There are specific restrictions and criteria set forth by The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) that determines cord blood donation eligibility and safety.
There is usually no fee incurred only if you are banking your cord blood at a public bank. Unfortunately, not every hospital collects cord blood for public banks and even if they do offer such services, there’s no guarantee there are no monetary charges or fees involved in cord blood collection and donation. Check with your healthcare provider to ensure they can collect cord blood at no cost to you before you reach 34 weeks of pregnancy if you wish to donate to a public bank.
Additionally, private banks charge varying collection fees that must be paid prior to your baby’s birth.
The Collection Process
The cord blood collection process is quick, harmless and safe for both you and your baby, with the entire process taking a few minutes.
If you decide to store your baby’s cord blood, your healthcare provider will collect it right after the umbilical cord is cut and clamped. A needle is inserted into the cord to extract the blood; the blood is then put into a collection bag. Your provider then sends it to the cord blood bank for you.
Cord Blood Storage
Once the cord blood collection bag arrives at the bank, it is then processed and typed, plus screened for diseases or other disorders to deem it safe to use, whether for your family’s private use or as a public donation.
Accepted safe cord blood is then cryogenically frozen and stored at the cord blood bank until a suitable match is found.
Benefits of Cord Blood Collection
According to The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), there are several advantages to using eligible cord blood hematopoietic stem cells to treat disease compared with using stem cells found in bone marrow:
- Stem cells from cord blood can be given to more people than those from bone marrow. More matches are possible when a cord blood transplant is used than when a bone marrow transplant is used. In addition, the stem cells in cord blood are less likely to cause rejection than those found in bone marrow.
- It’s easier to collect cord blood than it is to collect bone marrow. Collecting bone marrow poses some risks and can be painful for the donor.
- Cord blood can be frozen and stored. Cord blood is ready for anyone who needs it. Bone marrow must be used soon after it’s collected.
- Stem cells in cord blood can be used to strengthen the immune system during cancer treatments. Bone marrow stem cells do not have this capability.
The only disadvantage to using cord blood is that a single donation does not contain many stem cells. Units from several donors can be combined to increase the number of stem cells if a transplant is required for an adult.
As awareness of cord blood’s intrinsic value to our overall health becomes more widely known and understood, doctors and researchers hope more families giving birth consider the value of cord blood collection and banking to not only help their own families but also others within their communities to fight disease and regain health.
Your local Capital Women’s Care team of expert, knowledgeable doctors, nurses, health professionals and support staff are here to answer your questions and address your concerns regarding cord blood collection and donation and any women’s health issue. Our women’s health teams are dedicated to ensuring you and your family experience utmost medical care and treatment, so you enjoy a long quality life.
Sources:
https://nationaltoday.com/cord-blood-awareness-month/
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/23981-cord-blood-banking
https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/why-parents-should-save-their-babys-cord-blood-and-give-it-away-201710312518
https://www.cedars-sinai.org/blog/cord-blood-banking.html
https://www.acog.org/womens-health/faqs/cord-blood-banking
https://www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org/hometown-health/speaking-of-health/cord-blood-banking-faqs
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/blog/hlhs/newsfeed-post/faqs-on-umbilical-cord-blood-banking-and-use/
https://awomanshealth.com/health-conditions/umbilical-cord-blood-collection-and-storage
https://www.acog.org/womens-health/faqs/cord-blood-banking
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