Storing Cord Blood Beyond 25 Years

By Author: DarrenGift
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Posted by Cells4Life on Dec 16, 2013 in Cord Blood Banking | 0 comments

“What will happen to my baby’s cord blood stored at the lab after 25 years?”

The above is one of the most frequently asked question by many parents-to-be about cord blood banking. We usually offer three options for this:

A. Continue storing the cord blood sample for your family It is widely believed in the medical community that cord blood stem cells may be cryopreserved for an unlimited or unspecified period of time. Cells4Life’s storage term will be extended as required scientific evidence becomes available for the safety of long-term storage.

Also, according to Parent’s Guide to Cord Blood Foundation:“Cord blood can be stored indefinitely… The science of cryobiology tells us that cells which are cryogenically preserved remain viable for decades. It has been confirmed that cord blood stem cells were still viable after being frozen 23+ years.”

B. Donate the cord blood to a public bank or a research facility If you do not wish to continue storing cord blood for your family, donating your baby’s cord blood ...
... to a public bank can potentially save a person’s life in the future. On the other hand, donating it to a research facility helps medical people to test and use it for trials with the aim of improving cord blood treatments for future patients.

C. Discard the cord blood sample Although some parents might have their personal reasons, we still encourage them not to destroy their baby’s cord blood sample after 25 years of storage unless it is not possible to donate it to a public bank or a research centre. Cord blood is just too precious to be thrown away.

The lifesaving power of umbilical cord blood stem cells and the regenerative healing of cord tissue is no longer a secret. As stem cell treatments and research advance, more and more parents are opting to bank their newborn baby’s cord blood and tissue. Find out how stem cells are being used in medicine today.

Umbilical cord blood is the blood remaining in the cord after your baby has been born and the cord has been cut and clamped. It contains valuable stem cells that can be used in a variety of medical treatments such as regenerating the immune system after chemotherapy. Stem cells are known as ‘the building blocks of life’. They have the unique ability to become other types of cells in the body such as the blood, nerve cells, muscle, bone, and cartilage.

Why are umbilical stem cells so valuable?

Cord blood stem cells can only be collected at birth, so it is important to make the decision to do cord tissue storage several weeks before your due date.

Cord Tissue stored at birth have many advantages – they are readily available for your family if needed, they are considered to be the ‘youngest and freshest’ type of stem cell, and importantly there is a greater potential of a stem cell match between siblings.

Stem cells from the cord blood have been used for more than 20 years for the treatment of a number of disorders of the blood such as leukemia, lymphoma and thalassemia, which previously had been treated with bone marrow.

The umbilical cord blood collection process

After the safe delivery of your child, your obstetrician or midwife cleans the umbilical cord (with the materials provided in the Cells4Life kit) and inserts the blood bag needle into the umbilical vein. The blood flows into the bag by gravity. The blood bag tubing is clamped, sealed and labeled to await courier collection. The whole process takes only a few minutes and causes no pain for mother or baby.

Do you have any questions about cord blood banking? Our Cells4Life representatives are always happy to answer your inquiries so please don’t hesitate to give us a call on +971 4 3116613.

Darren Keast is the author of this article on Cord blood banking.Find more information, about Cord Tissue Storage here