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What is Cord Blood and Can It Help Your Baby?
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Storing your baby’s umbilical cord blood can
be one of the most important decisions that you ever make. Cord blood
can help to protect you and your family from a host of medical conditions
and diseases. In fact, your baby’s cord blood may even save
another family member’s life. So take some time to investigate
your options and the benefits of cord blood banking.
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What is Cord Blood?
Cord blood is the special blood that is
contained within your baby’s umbilical cord throughout
your pregnancy. The umbilical cord contains blood that carries
oxygen and nutrients to your baby, helping him to grow and develop.
The umbilical cord blood also contains special cells that help
to create organs, tissue, and other parts of your body. These
special cells are called stem cells.
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What are stem cells and why could they be important
to the future health of your baby?
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Stem cells from cord blood are cells that can create all other
types of blood cells. These other types of blood cells can be used
to combat a variety of diseases that attack the immune system from
leukemia to a number of other diseases.
Saving stem cells from cord blood is becoming a popular option
because unlike bone marrow stem cell retrieval it is much easier
to harvest and less dangerous to the patient.
Another advantage of stem cells from cord blood is that there appears
to be less chance of rejection from the host once the cells are
introduced making it easier in the case of transplants and other
uses.
Add to that the fact that banked cord blood is much more readily
accessible than searching for a bone marrow donor through the bone
marrow registries and you have an option that makes cord blood seemingly
preferable to bone marrow for use in transplants.
Is cord blood preservation and storage economically feasible? That
remains to be seen. Although the likelihood of one ever having to
use the cord blood is remote, the fact that you may have a bank
account with cord blood can provide many with a peace of mind unmatched.
Having said that, the jury is still out as to whether using the
stem cell blood for your own child is effective or not. For this
reason, one should consult a doctor well-versed in the knowledge
of the benefits and perils of stem cell transplantation prior to
using stored cord blood or even setting up a cord blood bank account.
Using a cord blood bank to store the cord blood for the future
use of your child could be important for families that have a history
of some cancers or genetic disorders. In this case having the umbilical
cord blood in storage is an option that could be explored.
There are an increasing number of cord blood banks that handle
cord blood storage. Usually there is an initial outlay that may
run up to a couple of thousand dollars followed by a yearly maintanance
fee.
A parent can also donate the cord blood of their baby to be made
available to others via a public cord blood bank. One caveat here
though is that even though this is a noble option and one that could
very well prolong the lives of others in need there is more red
tape involved as the disease history of the parents must be tested,
analyzed and confirmed often making it an expensive option.
In the end, is cord blood donation a wise option? On the positive
side you have the improved health possibilities and potential future
technological advances that may come up with more valuable uses
of the stored cord blood. On the negative side you have the cost
to retrieve and store the cord blood and the ambiguous scientific
evidence as to its efficacy.
Choosing to store or donate cord blood in a cord blood bank then
should probably only be done after consultation with a knowledgable
physician well-versed in the latest cord blood stem cell research
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