Banking cord blood means donating your cord blood to either a public or private cord blood bank. Those who can donate are pregnant mothers. They have to inform a cord blood bank by gestational age of 34 weeks. The cord blood bank will make arrangements for the collection of cord blood during delivery. Cord blood are those bloods that remain in the umbilical cord after it has been cut during delivery. Usually, the cord and the placenta are treated as medical waste, a byproduct of delivery which is just thrown out. But recent medical advancement discovered that there are medical uses for the cord blood.
Banking cord blood is not only practical but beneficial as well. It can be useful for the baby and relatives, to other people who might need it and to the advancement of medical research. It has been found out that cord blood is rich in stem cells. Stem cells are precursor cells. It generates production of red blood cells, white blood cells and platelet. It is also known to aid regeneration process of tissues that have been damaged like in the case of heart attack and stroke. Stem cells are an important medical management treatment for leukemia and other forms of cancer.
It can be beneficial for your own baby and siblings if you decide on banking cord blood. This is so if there is a known genetic regenerative disease condition in your family. Your baby may be able to use his own cord blood when needed in the future. Especially in cases when your baby will need an autologous cord blood transfusion and because being transfused with your own cord blood eliminates the problem of immune rejection during transfusion. When you are considering cord blood banking for this purpose, it will be best for you to contact a private cord blood bank.
Banking cord blood can be done through either a private or public cord blood bank. As mentioned already, private cord blood bank collects, processes and cryopreserve your cord blood for the future use of your own baby or close relatives. The private cord blood bank will charge you with a certain amount for their services. It can be a bit expensive but worth enough if it meant to save your loved one’s life. The public cord blood bank on the other hand will do the same services without collecting any fee from you. But the cord blood collected will be made available to the general public. Anyone who is a match and needs it for transfusion is able to use the cord blood you donated.