Saving Precious Lives

By Author: Jackson daren
Total Articles: 80
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Life is fraught with diseases. Some are common while some can be life threatening. However with the advances made in medical science now it is possible to cure quite a good number of life threatening diseases with innovative ways. One such innovative breakthrough is the baby cord blood banking through which almost 70 diseases can be cured.

A cord blood bank is a place where a baby's stem cells is stored which can be used later to treat many diseases that can't be cured in the normal way. The stem cell of a baby is collected at the time of birth and the same is stored for a long time. Parents whose child is suffering from incurable diseases like blood cancer, thalassemia etc can now hope for a cure with bone marrow transplant through cord blood transplant. The success rate according to medical professionals is quite satisfactory and this has encouraged more and more people to come for this treatment.

Collection of stem cells poses no risk for the mother and the baby and is also painless. Usually ...
... just a month before the date of delivery a collection kit is provided. This kit comprises a phlebotomy kit and a collection bag. Parents have to take this kit to the hospital and give it to the health care provider. After the baby is delivered which can be either through vaginal or caesarian delivery the cord is cut and the blood of the cord is drained into the collection bag. On completion of the process the respective stem cell bank will send its personnel to collect the kit. It is then sent for processing and storage.

However this process has to follow certain parameters. Processing of cord blood must be done within the first 72 hours after the baby is born. In some states like New York the stipulated processing time is 48 hours. During processing red blood cells and plasma is separated from the cord blood. After that the stem cells are stored in frozen condition at 196 C in liquid nitrogen. The preserved stem cells have no expiration date and can be stored for quite a long time.

The preserved stem cells can be used in the future for treating diseases suffered by the baby or his/her family members with matching blood group. Stem cells are thawed before being used for treatment.

Cord blood stem cells facilitate both autoloqous (baby's own cells) and allogenic (family member's/unrelated donors cells) transplants. Diseases that are degenerative like cerebral palsy, stroke, Type 1 diabetes etc require an autoloqous transplant and genetically based diseases requires an allogenic transplant.

About the Author:

This article is written by Jackson daren this is having topics on baby cord blood banking, cord blood bank, Cord blood stem cells and many more. For more : http://cryocell.wordpress.com/