The Umbilical cord blood is the richest source of stem cells as compared to the other sources such as the bone marrow or embryo. They have the capability to regenerate themselves into any type of cells of the body. This helps them to repair the damaged tissues, blood vessels and organs of the body. This regenerating property makes the stem cells able to treat various life-threatening diseases.
Cord Blood stem cells has gained more success in the field of Stem Cell Treatment. There are a number of diseases that can be treated by stem cell therapy such as hematological disorders, multiple sclerosis, autoimmune diseases and blood diseases.
Stem cells can be extracted from embryo (embryonic stem cells), bone marrow (adult stem cells) and umbilical cord (cord blood stem cells). But for stem cell transplantation doctors mainly prefer to use the cord blood stem cells as they are undifferentiated and can divide into any type of cells of the body. In addition, there are many advantages as compared to other stem cells such as it is easily available, collection procedure is safe and risk-free, gets perfectly matched with the recipient, do not possess any type of rejection and also do not have the chances of getting any kind of infection. So, the doctors suggest the expected parents to choose and preserve their baby’s cord blood during the birth of their child.
Stem Cell banking is not only helpful for the security of your baby but also for the members of your family. Due to the fact that cord blood stem cells are still undifferentiated so they become 100% percent match with the baby, 50% match with siblings and 25% with other members of their family. Scientists from different countries have also proved that cord blood stem cells can be much more effectively transplanted into the body of the recipient as compared to the stem cells of unknown donor.
There are mainly two types of stem cell bank – Private cord blood bank and public cord blood bank
Private cord blood bank – In private cord blood banking, parents have to pay for storing their baby’s cord blood. This cord blood stem cells can be used in future by the baby as well as its family members such as siblings, parents or grandparents. In this type of bank, the family will own the cord blood and only they can make decisions about what to do with their sample.
Public cord blood bank – In public cord blood banking, the cord blood sample of the baby is donated to the cord blood bank where it can be stored and is given to any patient who is in need of transplant and can also be used in doing medical research.
Before opting for stem cell banking, as an expectant parent you must look for these 9 important things in a company:
- Stability – You must analyze the stability of the company by checking whether the company is listed in a stock exchange or not and for how many years the company is serving its client.
- Technology – What type of technology is used by the company, is it using an advanced technology as well as does it meets the international standards?
- Accreditation – Is the company AABB accredited and having the certification of FDA?
- History – By knowing about the achievements of the company from the day of its establishments.
USPs – Know about the unique facilities offered by the company to their clients.