What is Cord Blood and How is it Collected?
The term "cord blood" is used as a shorthand way of referring to umbilical cord blood. The collection and storage of umbilical cord blood is a burgeoning new medical strategy that can help to ensure a newborn baby's future health. Because of how new this process is, however, most laypeople simply don't know much about what cord blood is, how it is collected, or why it is important.
Identification
Umbilical cord blood is any blood that is within the umbilical cord following the birthing process. This does not include any blood from the infant or from the mother, only the blood that was on its way to the baby as it was being born. Traditionally umbilical cord blood was simply disposed of with the afterbirth and other waste materials that are byproducts of the birthing process.
Time Frame
Umbilical cord blood remains viable within the umbilical cord for up to half an hour after the baby is born. It can be collected from the umbilical cord at any time during this viable period. After about half an hour, however, the cord blood may no longer be useful. Because of this fact most medical professionals harvest umbilical cord blood immediately after the cord is severed from both the mother and the infant.
Types
There are two unique methods of harvesting umbilical cord blood, both of which are quite effective. The first method involves the insertion of a syringe into the main blood vessel of the umbilical cord and the harvesting of the blood through that syringe. This method is quite similar to the way that blood is drawn from people for common blood tests. The second method involves simply draining the blood, using gravity, into a sterile plastic container. In this process the umbilical cord is severed, one end of it is placed inside of the sterile container, and the other end is hung up in the air. The blood from within the cord then rapidly drains out into the container and is collected after several minutes of draining.
Significance
The true significance of umbilical cord blood really remains to be seen. Cord blood is extremely rich in stem cells and it is expected that man new medical uses for stem cells will be discovered in the near future as medical stem cell research continues on a large scale. There are, however, already a large number of medical treatments that involve the use of stem cells like those found within umbilical cord blood. Some of the most common examples include stem cell transplants to children suffering from leukemia and to those who have depleted bone marrow due to radiation treatments.
Misconceptions
Many believe that the only reason to harvest cord blood is if you're going to store it privately in a blood bank. The truth is, however, that cord blood can be donated for public storage. While such cord blood is then made available to everyone in society, experts believe that if everyone would simply donate their baby's cord blood then society would have more than enough of it to treat everyone who needs it. This is why donation of cord blood is growing in popularity compared to private storage, which can be an expensive option.
Tags: cord blood, umbilical cord, umbilical cord blood, cord blood, stem cells