Cord blood is a newborn’s umbilical cord and can be collected immediately after birth. Simply speaking it’s the pipeline connecting mother to child. Once the mother delivers a child, this cord is thrown away.
Necessary less it was thought that it can create a new life or can someone get out of certain disorders. What it contains are the powerful cells (cells responsible to generate healthy blood and immune system).
Why and what is it?
A simple yet sophisticated pipe life that contains several different types of cells. These are potential enough to manage growth of new cells. It is just like a seed inside the fruit which grows to a tree when planted into the soil.
These stem cells exactly are cultured like a seed that would generate new sets of cells in numerous amounts.
The cord tissues (tissues present in the connecting pipeline) have the unique power to generate these stem cells. With these cells helping to repair and heal the body in quite a different manner.
Apart from that these cells are also going to create structural and blood tissues. They are evaluated in treating heart diseases, strokes and spinal cord damages as well.
Importance –
Every year several people die out of various blood related disorders like that of leukemia, lymphoma and sickle cell anemia. For the purpose what medical science considers is bone marrow transplantation (treatment by transferring bone marrow within a close family member). But at times it becomes difficult, hence can move on to the best way with stem cells that can be obtained from umbilical cord blood (blood from the pipe line connecting mother to child).
Advantages of banking cord blood–
- Once the cord blood is collected and stored into the cord blood bank can be used for any other related siblings.
- Leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma are quite deadly diseases that can be treated with the cells collected from the cord blood (blood from the hollow pipe connecting mother and child).
- Collection of this substituent is quite a low risk procedure for both mother and child with little risk of infection.
Disadvantages of cord blood banking –
With every possibilities, having two sides. There are some disadvantages as well. These are mostly –
- Collection of insufficient volume of cord blood that has been occurring about 50 % or more cases of cord blood collection (blood collected from the hollow pipe that connects mother and child).
- There are fewer chances for a child to use their own blood when considered for a life time.
The cord blood collection includes a limited cell doses (due to the small volume of the cord blood) and quality control (due to storage issues).
