Cord Blood

The blood from your baby’s umbilical cord could possibly help save lives. Cord blood can be very valuable to scientists and doctors because it is extremely rich in some unique cells called stem cells.

Stem cells are younger cells from which the various parts of the human body develop. Since they are younger stem cells are much more flexible and therefore much more effective if used in transplants and other procedures.

Cord blood can save two very valuable kinds of stem cells: hematopoietic stem cells from which the immune system develops and mesenchymal stem cells which grow into structure and connective tissue. Hematopoietic stem cells can be used to develop treatments for disorders of the immune system such as leukemia.

Saving Cord Blood

The only way to get these stem cells for scientific research and other purposes is to save them right when the mother is born. By saving the umbilical cord with a special kit a mother can preserve cord blood and the stem cells in it indefinitely.

If cord blood is frozen it can be saved indefinitely in a cord blood bank. This means that the stem cells in it will be available for both medical treatments and scientific research for years to come.

A woman can save her baby’s cord blood in a cord bank at the time of birth. This procedure will ensure that the baby’s stem cells will be available in the future if he or she needs a stem cell based medical treatment.

Research to create as many 80 different treatments based on umbilical cord stem cells is now ongoing. Doctors and scientists believe that stem cells could be the basis for treatments for a variety of diseases including some types of diabetes.

Regenerative Medicine

The next frontier for umbilical cord stem cell research is regenerative medicine. Researchers believe that they will one day be able to grow new tissue and perhaps organs from stem cells. These could one day be used to replace tissue and organs lost to disease and injuries.

Doctors could one day use regenerative medicine to treat juvenile diabetes and brain injuries. Some scientists think it could also be used to develop treatments for Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease.

Saving Cord Blood

It would probably be a good idea for the mother of a baby born today to save her child’s cord blood and cord tissue in a cord blood bank. This would ensure that the child’s stem cells will be available in the future so doctors could use them.