So what is umbilical cord blood all about?

Well in this introduction to cord blood, I'd like to go through some basics of cord blood and why parents are deciding to donate their baby's umbilical cord blood for the sake of their future health.

Firstly, realise that cord blood has 2 main areas of use, firstly for private or public donation for use as blood cell transplantation.

And secondly, it is used in a minor way for stem cell research to research on how stem cells can be turned into more mature functioning cells.

Let's consider in this article the basics of how cord blood is collected.

The steps to cord blood donation or collection are:

After delivery of the baby, the umbilical cord is clamped in the usual manner and then the blood between the umbilical cord and the placenta is collected.

This is done with a syringe and a resulting 5-6ml of blood is collected.

Next comes the transportation of the umbilical cord blood to a cord blood bank for processing and cryogenic storage.

Then the cord blood is either stored for a yearly fee if stored for private use. That is for the baby's future use in case he or she requires a cord blood transplant for illnesses such as leukemia or lymphoma.

If however, the cord blood was donated for public use, then the blood unit will be for example listed with the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) if the bank is affiliated with the NMDP program. This is like a search registry for doctors to find suitable donations of blood for ill patients.

Some banks are not associated with the NMDP however.

So there you have it, you have now an introduction to cord blood and it's various issues.

For more information see www.parentscordblood.com for news and articles on cord blood collection and how it's done.

It's a medical area that's expanding day by day.

Not every city has cord blood banks, but government interest in it is rising and there are plans to increase funding to support this new medical area.

No doubt this will increase as the benefits of cord blood banking becomes more well known.