What Is Cord Blood And What Is It Used For?

Cord blood, also called placental blood or umbilical cord blood

, is the leftover blood that is in the placenta and the section of the umbilical cord that remains attached to the placenta after the cord to the baby has been cut. Cord blood contains red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets and plasma, just like normal blood. But cord blood also has lots of hematopoietic (blood-forming) stem cells that are similar to the ones found in bone marrow.

This is why cord blood is now being used on an experimental basis as an alternative to bone marrow transplants for patients with blood and immune system diseases and genetic or metabolic diseases. The most common diseases that have been treated so far are leukemia and inherited diseases such as those that affect red blood cells, the immune system and certain metabolic abnormalities. And patients with lymphoma, myelodysplasia and severe aplastic anemia have also been successfully transplanted with cord blood.

In fact, more than 80 different diseases have been treated with cord blood transplants so far. And scientists are now actively investigating the possibility that stem cells in cord blood may even be able to replace cells of other tissues such as nerve or heart cells so that they can be used to treat patients with stroke, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and various types of heart disease.

Cord blood offers a number of significant advantages over bone marrow transplants for the treatment of many diseases. First of all, collecting cord blood collection is a safe and simple procedure that takes place using the placenta after the baby has been born. Collecting cord blood therefore doesn't pose any risk to the mother or baby.

Secondly, unlike when a patient needs a bone marrow transplant, using cord blood eliminates the need to take the time to locate a possible volunteer who is willing and able to donate. Instead, cord blood is collected, tested, and stored, ready to use for anyone who might need it in the future. If a match is found, it can be reserved immediately. Confirmatory HLA typing and any special testing that might be required can usually be finished in about 5 days.

Another important advantage is that cord blood transplants can be performed even when the donor and the recipient are only partial matches, which greatly increases the patients chance to find a suitable donor. This means that a relatively small cord blood donor pool can effectively provide close enough matches to be suitable for most patients' needs. In contrast, bone marrow grafts require highly specific 8/8 matching in most cases.

And even in partial match situations, the immune cells in cord blood seem to be less likely than those in bone marrow from unrelated donors to attack the patient's own tissues, causing graft vs. host disease. This means that there is less likelihood of complications and transplant rejections from cord blood transplants.

Finally, compared to bone marrow transplants, cord blood transplants are also less likely to transmit certain common viruses, like Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and cytomegalovirus (CMV), both of which are potentially deadly infections for transplant recipients who have compromised immune systems. For all of these reasons, donating your baby's umbilical cord blood to a cord blood bank is a practical and easy way to help someone with a life-threatening disease.

by: CCSTB

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