
Umbilical cord blood, or cord blood, for short, is the blood that remains in the umbilical cord and the placenta when a baby is born. After cutting the umbilical cord has been cut, the blood that is left in it is extracted and placed in a collection bag by specially trained personnel. Although there are different ways by which cord blood can be collected, these methods are all safe and pose no risk at all to either infant or mother. After collection, umbilical cord blood is stored in a cord blood bank for future use.
Collection and storage of umbilical cord blood has recently gained importance due to advances in medical history that have revealed the usefulness of stem cells contained in umbilical cord blood. Stem cells from umbilical cord blood have proven to be very safe and effective in the treatment of a wide range of diseases, including brain injury, diabetes, stroke, heart-related diseases, genetic disorders, and even hearing loss. Many cord blood transplants have been conducted on patients with blood and immune system diseases as well. Patients with genetic and metabolic dysfunctions have also benefitted from umbilical cord blood transplants.
Other sources of stem cells, aside from cord blood, are bone marrow and circulating blood. Bone marrow and circulating blood can both be derived from healthy adults at any given time. Umbilical cord blood, on the other hand, can only be collected and stored at birth.
Among these three sources of stem cells, it appears that umbilical cord blood provides the greatest healing and therapeutic value. Cord blood cells are younger, more adaptable and, most importantly, have not yet been exposed to possible adverse environmental elements. Research has proven that matching transplant patients with umbilical cord blood is easier and more effective than using bone marrow or circulating blood. Moreover, umbilical cord blood stem cells have shown greater tolerance to tissue mismatches, as opposed to bone marrow stem cells, which require a higher degree of matching between the host and transplant cells.
Most experts in the field agree that we may not have even begun to scrape the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the full potential of umbilical cord blood cells and their possible uses and applications. Research in this area is now being given priority, considering the enormity of potential promised by its current applications.