Research

The Benefits of Cord Blood Stem Cells

Banking your child's cord blood stem cells can change or even save a life. The lifesaving power of the umbilical cord blood is no longer a secret. Cord blood stem cells are a better alternative to bone marrow in transplants, and have been used for 20 years to treat more than 80 life-threatening diseases and disorders.

Today stem cell therapies continue to evolve, bringing new hope to patients and their families. Below are just a few diseases and disorders that have been treated successfully with cord blood stem cells:

Cancer

  • Acute Leukemia
  • Chronic Leukemia
  • High-Risk Solid Tumors
  • Hodgkin & Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma
  • Myelodysplastic Syndromes

Blood Disorders

  • Aplastic Anemia
  • Beta Thalassemia
  • Diamond-Blackfan Anemia
  • Fanconi Anemia
  • Sickle Cell Disease

Immune Disorders

  • Chronic Granulomatous Disease
  • Histiocytic Disorders
  • Leukocyte Adhesion Deficiency
  • Severe Combined Immunodeficiency Diseases
  • Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome

Metabolic Disorders

  • Krabbe Disease
  • Hurler Syndrome
  • Metachromatic Leukodystrophy
  • Sanfilippo Syndrome

Blood Stem Cells

Saving or donating cord blood stem cells makes them available to treat diseases like those listed above. For inherited genetic conditions, the patient may not be able to use his or her own stem cells. In these cases, a matched sibling's stem cells would be the first choice. Family banking also offers access to current regenerative medicine clinical trials in autism, traumatic brain injury, and cerebral palsy.

The lifesaving power of umbilical cord blood stem cells and the regenerative healing of cord tissue is no longer a secret. As stem cell treatments and research advance, more and more parents are opting to bank their newborn baby's cord blood and tissue. Find out how stem cells are being used in medicine today.

Umbilical cord blood is the blood remaining in the cord after your baby has been born and the cord has been cut and clamped. It contains valuable stem cells that can be used in a variety of medical treatments such as regenerating the immune system after chemotherapy. Stem cells are known as ‘the building blocks of life'. They have the unique ability to become other types of cells in the body such as the blood, nerve cells, muscle, bone, and cartilage.

Why are umbilical stem cells so valuable?

Cord blood stem cells can only be collected at birth, so it is important to make the decision to do cord tissue storage several weeks before your due date.

Cord Tissue stored at birth have many advantages - they are readily available for your family if needed, they are considered to be the ‘youngest and freshest' type of stem cell, and importantly there is a greater potential of a stem cell match between siblings.

Stem cells from the cord blood have been used for more than 20 years for the treatment of a number of disorders of the blood such as leukemia, lymphoma and thalassemia, which previously had been treated with bone marrow.

The umbilical cord blood collection process

After the safe delivery of your child, your obstetrician or midwife cleans the umbilical cord (with the materials provided in the Cells4Life kit) and inserts the blood bag needle into the umbilical vein. The blood flows into the bag by gravity. The blood bag tubing is clamped, sealed and labeled to await courier collection. The whole process takes only a few minutes and causes no pain for mother or baby.

If you have any questions, please ask below!