The world of medicine keeps evolving and through this, many ingenious innovations have emerged. From new medical procedures to medical technologies, the single mission of medicine is to save lives and improve the quality of life. It is this drive that led to the discovery of umbilical cord blood as a source of the all-important stem cells. This is one of the most significant medical developments in recent time. So far, 8,000 people have benefited from medical therapies carried out with stem cells derived from the umbilical cord and placenta.
The Basics of Using Umbilical Cord Blood
To appreciate the importance of this blood, you have to get more insight into stem cell technology. In the simplest terms, stem cells are unspecialized cells that form the basis of all tissues and organ cells in the body. Stem cells can be derived from adult stem cells, embryonic stem cells and umbilical cord stem cells. While stem cells from umbilical cord bloodhave been considered a waste product in the birthing process, they have now been found to contain up to 10 times more stem cells than bone marrows.
The use of stem cells started way back in the 1950s but only in the 1980s did stem cells from the umbilical cord and placenta start getting attention. These stem cells are used in the treatment of blood disorders (such as Fanconi’s anemia and sickle-cell anemia), immunodeficiency conditions (such as Duncan’s disease or adenosine deaminase deficiency), cancers (such as lymphoma and leukemia) and congenital metabolic disorders (such as adrenoleukodystrophy).
Main Concerns on Umbilical Cord Blood
Over the years, there have been many questions on the use of stem cells collected from the Umbilical Cord. The answers to these questions help you get a fuller understanding of the importance of this medical practice. Among the common questions are:
- What is cord blood? This is blood collected from the umbilical cord and placenta after the child is born. The reason for this is to harvest stem cells contained therein, which are useful in treating different diseases.
- What’s the difference between embryonic cells and cord cells? Embryonic stem cells are collected from the embryo for clinical tests while cord cells are from the umbilical cord and placenta.
- Why are stem cells from umbilical cord better? The main reason is that they are easy to collect and process. The process is not risky to both mother and child and there is no pain involved. This contrasts to the collection of stem cells from the embryo or bone marrow. There is also less risk of transmission of infectious disease and the risk of rejection by the recipient’s blood is lower.
- Why should a mother consider cord blood storage? These cells save lives and whether your family has a history of hereditary diseases or not, it is always advisable to store these cells. In a private storage, this is the property of the mother and child and can only be used according to their wishes. In a public storage, the stem cells are available to anyone who needs them in a transplant.
If you are an expectant mother, ask your doctors about cord blood storage and you will make a great contribution to a healthier society.
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