Why Should You Preserve Stem Cells Present in Umbilical Cord Blood During Childbirth?
Umbilical cord blood is the blood which is found in the umbilical cord and the placenta when a newborn baby is delivered, and the umbilical cord has been cut. This blood is rich in stem cells that can be used for treating various diseases.
Nowadays, stem cells are widely used for treating more than 80 blood-related diseases like leukaemia, lymphoma, myeloma, etc.
Stem cells from the umbilical cord blood have been used for more than 25 years, and, as of now, there have been more than 30 000 successful stem cell transplants worldwide.
Read on to understand why you should go for umbilical cord stem cell preservation.
Reasons to Preserve Umbilical Cord Blood During Childbirth
The most significant reasons to opt for cord blood preservation are:
Best Source- Cord blood has a high concentration of stem cells.
Safe & quick collection procedure- The procedure of extraction & preservation is easy and painless, and it is entirely harmless for both mother and the child
Prolonged preservation- Cord Blood Banks typically preserves cord blood in liquid nitrogen (at -196°С). This allows storage of stem cells for an unlimited time period with practically no loss of cells.
Ready for use- Stored stem cells can be easily availed on request; this notably shortens the treatment time.
Umbilical Cord Blood Stem Cells Advantages
The advantages of umbilical cord blood banking are:
New
Stem cells that are obtained during childbirth are much younger than the stem cells obtained from bone marrow, as they’ve been preserved at the very beginning of life and they’ve not been exposed to the harmful effects of the environment.
Amount
The amount & concentration of stem cells present in cord blood is much higher than in bone marrow or peripheral blood.
Potential & Activity
Scientists believe that stem cell division is quite limited. Umbilical cord blood stem cells that have been extracted & preserved right after the childbirth has the greatest division and differentiation capabilities in comparison to other cells present in the human body, as they are usually collected later in life.
Economical
In times of need, finding a suitable bone marrow donor can be a lengthy procedure and an expensive one, while umbilical cord blood stem cells that have been preserved in advance, can be used whenever there is a need. In addition to this, the cost of umbilical cord blood stem cell collection, processing and preservation are notably cheaper than the process of extracting stem cells from bone marrow or peripheral blood.