It was not too long ago when medicine discovered cord blood stem cells. In fact it was not too long ago in 1988 when the first cord blood transfusion took place. Then the rest, as they would say it, is history. Stem cells are progenitor cells. It is the origin from which come different blood cells. At first it was just a treatment for leukemia and other blood conditions. But medical research has discovered the many possibilities stem cells could provide in the treatment of regenerative diseases. Now it is being used to treat diabetes type 1, stroke and cardiovascular diseases.
Stem cells used to be harvested from a donor’s bone marrow. This is a very invasive procedure and therefore painful for the donor. In addition to that, problems like graft-host incompatibilities arise. Because the stem cells are already mature it is most often unaccepted by the system of the recipient. Then there was the very controversial embryonic source of stem cells. The growing fetus being rich with stem cells could be harmed in order to harvest them. This faced a lot of pro-life ethical issues. Research and studies on this have experienced a lot of setbacks until they discovered cord blood stem cells.
Umbilical cord is rich with stem cells. Right after the umbilical cord is cut during delivery, the remaining blood in the cord which is rich in stem cells are collected. The process of collection is not at all harmful to both baby and the mother. In fact, the cord along with the placenta are most often treated as medical waste and a byproduct of delivery. Cord blood stem cells are therefore free from any ethical issues and it is safe and easy to collect. Not to mention that there’s enough volume to collect in one cord.
Cord blood stem cells are deposited to a cord blood bank where it will undergo several tests before it is cryopreserved. The cord blood bank makes stem cells available for those who need stem cell transfusion. They also make available stem cells for medical research and studies. It is estimated that by the year 2015, there will be around 10,000 cord blood stem cell transfusions all over the world. Thus, there is a need to furnish cord blood banks with enough deposits of cord blood stem cells. There is a good number of cord blood banks being established throughout different states in America. And a lot of information dissemination programs had been done to encourage donors.