Cord Blood also called "placental blood," is the blood that remains in the umbilical cord and placenta after the cord has been cut following the birth of the baby. Cord blood is routinely discarded with the placenta and umbilical cord. But if the umbilical cord is not prematurely clamped then approximately 180 ml of Umbilical cord blood is returned to the neonatal circulation.
In some obstetric and midwifery practices, physiological extended-delayed cord clamping protocol, as well as water birth, allows for the cord blood to pulse into the neonate for 5-20 minutes after delivery. If the umbilical cord is not clamped, a physiological clamping occurs upon interaction with cold air, when the internal gelatinous substance, called Wharton's jelly swells around the umbilical artery and veins.
Your baby's umbilical cord blood is a valuable source of stem cells which are genetically unique to your baby and family. These days everybody is talking about Cord Blood Harvesting which can either be in the form of a private commercial enterprise or a public medical resource.
Cord blood banking is controversial in the medical and parenting community. Blood collected this way takes up to 180ml from the neonate (sometimes up to half of the total blood volume) which is a highly controversial subject in prenatal medicine. Cord blood is rich in Hematopoietic stem cells. These stem cells are used for the cure of various serious illness in a family. It ensures safety against diseases and illness in the future.
Cord blood is stored by both public and private cord blood banks. Public cord blood banks store cord blood for the benefit of the general public, and most U.S. banks coordinate matching cord blood to patients through the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP). Private cord blood banks are for-profit organizations which store cord blood for the exclusive use of the donor or donor's relatives.
A Statement given by "The American Academy of Pediatrics 2007" clearly states that:
"Physicians should be aware of the unsubstantiated claims of private cord blood banks made to future parents that promise to insure infants or family members against serious illnesses in the future by use of the stem cells contained in cord blood."

However, there is a lot of questioning upon CORD BLOOD BANKING. Several times this question has been put before the Medical Community.
Public cord blood banking is supported by the medical community. However, private cord blood banking is generally not recommended unless there is a family history of specific genetic diseases. Private banking is unlawful in certain countries like France and Italy, and opposed by the European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies.
New parents have the option of storing their newborn's cord blood at a private cord blood bank or donating it to a public cord blood bank. The cost of private cord blood banking is approximately $2000 for collection and approximately $125 per year for storage, as of 2007. Donation to a public cord blood bank is not possible everywhere, but availability is increasing. Several local cord blood banks across the United States are now accepting donations from within their own states. The cord blood bank will not charge the donor for the donation; the OB/GYN may still charge a collection fee, although many OB/GYNs choose to donate their time.
After the first sibling-donor cord blood transplant was performed in 1988, the National Institute of Health (NIH) awarded a grant to Dr. Pablo Rubinstein to develop the world's first cord blood program at the New York Blood Center (NYBC) in order to establish the inventory of non embryonic stem cell units necessary to provide unrelated, matched grafts for patients.
In 2005, University of Toronto researcher Peter Zandstra developed a method to increase the yield of cord blood stem cells to enable their use in treating adults as well as children .While there is general support in the medical community for public banking of cord blood, the question of private banking has raised objections from many governments and nonprofit organizations.
The controversy centers on varying assessments of the current and future likelihood of successful uses of the stored blood.
In March 2008, a paper was published by "Nietfeld et al" in the journal "Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation" which computed the lifetime probability of an individual undergoing a stem cell transplant. The likelihood of an Autologous transplant using your own stem cells is 1 in 435 whereas the likelihood of an allogeneic transplant from a matched donor (such as a sibling) is 1 in 400, and the net likelihood of any type of stem cell transplant is 1 in 217.

"If in the future regenerative medicine developed in such a way that using stem cells became possible, then the fact to have one's own cord blood being stored at birth could increase the chance of having access to new therapies."
Thus by banking your baby's cord blood stem cells, you could benefit from breakthrough uses and be prepared for the unknown diseases in the future time to come. As Cord Blood Banking promises to insure infants or family members against serious illnesses in the future by use of the stem cells contained in cord blood.

Autor: Melvin

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