We all know that blood saves lives, and most of us are familiar
with the importance of donating blood when and if we can. As
medical science has progressed, however, the ways in which blood
can be donated, and even the types of blood it is possible to
share, have increased, bringing with them a number of issues
that society must debate.
All cultures have their own traditions surrounding the process
of giving birth, and some of these involve the placenta and
umbilical cord, used to allow the transfer of substances between
mother and child before birth takes place. While some cultures
espouse the ingestion of a mother’s placenta, western medicine
has found another use for this organ, or at least for what is
contained within.
The placenta and umbilical cord contain a type of blood that is
rich with stem cells, which can be used to great benefit in
patients suffering from a variety of immune disorders. The most
widely known use of such cells is in bone marrow transplants,
where patients suffering from cancer receive the bone marrow
from a living donor, replacing the unhealthy blood cells of the
patient for the life-saving ones of the voluntary donor. The
process of bone marrow transplantation can, however, be time
consuming, and finding an exact donor match can be difficult.
Cord blood contains a similar type of the stem cells that are
found in bone marrow, but the way in which it is donated makes
it more readily available for the patient in need. Cord blood,
once tested for its suitability, can be stored in a special
facility until it is needed - when it can be sent directly to
the patient without enduring the time consuming search for a
bone marrow donor.
Cord blood donation raises a number of issues. Public cord blood
storage units are not always available to the parents who wish
to donate their baby’s blood. While parents can choose to store
the cord blood privately for their baby’s later use, this can be
expensive, and raises the question of whether the blood should
wait for someone who might never use it or be given immediately
to a patient in need.
For the moment, this remains the choice of the parents, who can
choose to save their baby’s cord blood, if they can afford to
pay the price. Like all insurance policies, it might be one
taken out with the hope that it never needs to be called in, but
society continues to ask whether this is a policy whose benefits
should be shared
About the author:
Dave is the owner of http://www.cord-blood-services.info and
http://www.cord-blood-research.info websites providing
information on umbilical cord blood
New technology exists to treat leukaemia patients with stem cell technology using cord blood.
The problem is that it’s hard to find a bone marrow match for these patients. But this problem is starting to get fixed by using the blood from a newborn baby.
Also known as ‘cord blood’, this transplant was only used in kids before because scientists thought that the blood didn’t contain enough of the needed stem cells to replenish the circultory system and thus fight leukaemia. They were wrong because a new study by the New England Journal of Medicine says that there IS enough stem cells in cord blood to treat an adult.
This is really great because the study found that this new treatment provides a better success rates then a mismatched marrow type transplant.
More and more research needs to be done. But, all in all…it’s a great step for stem cell technology to incorporate the cord blood stockpiles that are out there to save peoples lives.
ADVANTAGES OF CORD BLOOD DONATION
Rich in haematopoietic (blood-making) stem cells, cord blood can be frozen, stored, and used later, which makes it a better source of stem cells than bone marrow. Cord blood is also a better source of stem cells for transplantation because it is available when the patient needs it as opposed to when a matching donor can be identified and available for the patient.
Cord blood has advantages over bone marrow. Unlike the stem cells contained in bone marrow, the stem cells found in cord blood are immature and more easily adapt to the new host. This makes for a reduction in the occurrence of Graft Versus Host Disease.
Another benefit of using cord blood is that it is easily collected. An expectant mother arranges for her physician to collect the sample at the time of delivery. After the birth of the child, the umbilical cord is clamped, cut, and separated from the baby. While waiting for the placenta to deliver, the physician collects the cord blood. The whole process is painless and non-invasive, and it makes life-saving use of what has been traditionally considered medical waste. The collected sample is then sent to a specialized facility such as the St. Louis Cord Blood Bank for typing, storage, and registering availability to transplant centers around the world. Cord-blood stem cells are considered “purer” than adult stem cells because, being new and having existed in the closed system of the umbilical cord and placenta, they have not suffered the same exposure to disease and contamination as that of adult stem cells. If tests prove the sample unsuitable for transplantation, the sample still offers a valuable opportunity for research.
Those interested in donating their own baby’s cord blood should call the Cord Blood Donor Foundation (CBDF) for an information form. Important - this should take place 60 days before the due date! After sending in the form, if the cord blood is approved, at the proper time, the CBDF sends a kit to the mom. At the time of delivery, the kit is taken to the hospital or remains ready in the home in case of a homebirth. When the cord blood has been harvested using the syringes in the kit and all is labelled, the kit is ready to mail. The CBDF has even taken care of postage! Basically, that is all the effort expended by the mom and if all goes well, a child with leukaemia can live
