Cord Blood Q&A
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The Nature of Cord Blood
What is Cord Blood?
Cord blood, or umbilical cord blood, is blood that remains in the umbilical cord and placenta at the time of birth. This blood is usually discarded following delivery; however, medical science is now aware that cord blood is a rich supply of stem cells which can sometimes be used as an alternative to bone marrow or peripheral blood stem cells for transplants.
What are blood stem cells?
Blood stem cells are the building blocks of our blood and immune systems. We currently are able to obtain blood stem cells for donation from three sources; through bone marrow, peripheral blood, and through cord blood. Stem cells form the white cells that fight infection, the red cells that carry oxygen and platelets that promote healing.
What makes cord blood unique?
Like bone marrow, cord blood is rich in stem cells. Stem cells are the essential element in successful bone marrow transplants. Cord blood also has the added advantage of being 'privileged' or unexposed to most diseases. Previous exposure to diseases can make bone marrow from an adult more difficult to use in transplantation. Likewise, with cord blood transplantation, there is a decreased risk of graft-vs-host disease, a potentially fatal side effect, as compared to transplants performed with adult bone marrow and stem cells.
Why donate a baby's umbilical cord?
Healthy blood stem cells found in a cord blood unit (CBU) can offer another transplant option to people diagnosed with leukemia, anemia and other life-threatening blood diseases. Because there is a limited amount of blood in the umbilical cord (3 to 5 fluid ounces), children typically benefit from cord blood transplants more than adults do.
Why is there a special need for racially and ethnically diverse donors?
Tissue types used to match a CBU with a patient are inherited like skin and eye color. That's why patients are most likely to find a matched cord blood unit from within their own racial or ethnic group. Although tens of thousands have donated cord blood, there is a pressing need for more racially and ethnically diverse cord blood donations to help more patients receive a second chance at life.
Cord Blood Collection
How is cord blood collected?
After a baby is born, the umbilical cord is clamped, breaking the link between the baby and the placenta. The small amount of blood in the cord is drained and taken to a cord blood bank. There, the blood cells are tissue typed and entered into the NMDP database. The blood is then frozen for later use. The stem cells in frozen cord blood remain viable for many years.
Is there a risk to the baby or mother?
Because the cord blood is collected from the placenta after delivery, the donation process poses no risk to a newborn baby or its mother. However, the baby's mother must agree on behalf of her child, to the collection and storage of the CBU.
What happens after the cord blood is collected?
After the cord blood has been collected, it is packed in the special shipping material provided in the Kit. The parents then call a toll-free telephone number to arrange for pick up and delivery of the cord blood to the laboratory within 24-30 hours of collection, where it is processed, separated and the stem cells are cryogenically stored.
Is there a cost to donate cord blood?
There is no cost for donating a CBU for community banking at an NMDP affiliated cord blood bank.
*Please note, the AADP-The Next Generation cord blood banking project, is currently on hold due to lack of funding.
What is the difference between private storage and donating?
Private storage means your baby's cord blood is stored for your private use only. Typically, companies that provide this service charge a fee. On the other hand, donating means your baby's cord blood is stored in a cord blood bank and is available to anyone in need of transplant.
Donating your baby's cord blood or storing it for private use is a personal decision that only you can make. If you have a child with leukemia or other disease that may be treatble by transplant and you are pregnant, talk with your oncologist or pediatrician about storing your baby's cord blood.
Control of the Cord Blood
Who can use the stored cord blood stem cells in community banking?
The stored cord blood stem cells in community banking are available to anyone in the world searching for a cord blood donor for transplantation.
Confidentiality
Cord blood units are provided anonymously for transplantation through the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP). The NMDP does not receive information identifying the cord blood donor.
Before the Birth of Your Baby
How do I donate my baby's umbilical cord?
There are only a small number of cord blood banks in the United States, so donation to a local bank is not possible in many areas. This is primarily due to limited funds to pay for processing and testing of cord blood units. To donate your baby's cord blood, look for a cord blood bank or collecting area within or close to your community. Click on this link for a list of NMDP-affiliated cord blood banks. Do understand that there is a pressing need for more racially and ethnically diverse donors.
*Please note, the AADP-The Next Generation cord blood banking project is currently on hold due to lack of funding.
How do I prepare to donate my baby's umbilical cord?
You should contact a local cord blood bank such as AADP-The Next Generation or a collecting hospital by your 34th week of pregnancy. You will be asked to complete a consent form, health history questionnaire and give a small blood sample. Different cord blood banks have different preparational procedures. You may receive a kit to give to your doctor on the day of delivery or your hospital may directly work with the doctor for the collection. Please inquire at the respective cord blood bank that you call as to what their procedures are.
*Please note, the AADP-The Next Generation cord blood banking project is currently on hold due to lack of funding.
After the Birth of Your Baby
Should I refrigerate the specimen once it is taken from the umbilical cord?
NO. The specimen should be kept at room temperature. There is an anticoagulant in the bag to prevent clotting of the blood.
When do you need the specimen to reach your lab?
Our lab must receive the specimen within 24-30 hours of the birth of your baby. Hopefully, this should allow for any flight or traffic delays that the courier might encounter.
Cord Blood Transplantation
What is the history of cord blood transplantation?
Umbilical cord blood was first used for transplantation in 1988, in France, for a patient with Fanconi's anemia. Since that time, cord blood has been increasingly used as a substitute for adult stem cells from bone marrow and peripheral blood in hundreds of transplants.
How can cord blood be used?
Cord blood may be used in place of bone marrow transplantation and has already been used to treat numerous types of malignancies including certain leukemias, Hodgkin's disease and lymphoma. It has also been used for the treatment of a variety of anemias, inherited metabolic disorders and deficiences of the immune system. The majority of cord blood transplants to date have been performed in patients less than 18 years old and have been sibling or allogeneic transplants.
How successful are cord blood transplants?
Cord blood transplants have been demonstrated to be at least as successful as bone marrow in the cases in which they have been used. By comparison, cord blood has other advantages over bone marrow, including ease of collection and the ability to use a less than perfectly matched unit.
How do patients receive their stem cells?
Like all other stem cell transplants, the cord blood stem cells are administered to patients directly into the blood stream. This takes place once the patient's own stem cells and immune system have been destroyed through a rigorous treatment of chemotherapy and/or radiation to eliminate the diseased cells. Once infused the new stem cells travel to the bone marrow spaces in the patient, where they take residence and begin to multiply.
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