Cord Blood Storage
Procedure
When cord blood is collected from donors, it will be kept frozen in cord blood banks for future use. However, cord blood is not usually processed right away after it is collected from the mothers who have given birth. Due to the inconsistent timing of birth deliveries, umbilical cord blood donations are often transported to a laboratory for a screening process first before storage. Medical experts recommend that the processing of cord blood should be made within 24 hours after it has been collected. Cord blood processing includes quality control testing and plasma and red blood cells reduction to lessen the volume of the cord blood when it is stored.
After processing, the cord blood is now ready for storage. During this procedure, it will be kept in a plastic or vinyl bag to be cryopreserved in a storage freezer that contains liquid or vapor nitrogen. Cord blood storage uses this type of facility in order to preserve this essential body component without any significant loss of cell viability even when stored up to 10 years.
For a safe and effective cord blood collection , proper evaluations, storage, and transplant should be made. Proper evaluation includes reviewing the health history of the mother and her family, laboratory testing of the mother's blood sample to check for infectious diseases, and quality control laboratory testing of the cord blood.
Health history
Maternal and family health history will be studied to assess any possible risk factors in transmitting genetic or infectious diseases through cord blood transfusion. These diseases include leukemia, cancer, hepatitis, neurological disorders, immune disorders, and AIDS. If a potential risk is identified, the cord blood should be re-evaluated to determine if it is still valid for storage and transplant. In most cases, the cord blood will be rejected after determining the negative results. However, there are cases where the cord blood will still be stored but it will include information that indicates the potential risks it carries. This information will be recorded by the cord blood bank. It will be made available to the patient and transplant physician who are considering getting the cord blood so that they will know the risks involved and they will be able to make a proper decision.
Testing
Cord blood storage requires the rigorous screening and testing done for typical blood storage. The screening processes and tests that are done for infectious diseases before and after cold blood storage include: hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus, human immunodeficiency virus 1 and 2 (HIV-1, HIV-2), human T-cell lymphotropic virus I and II (HTLV-I, HTLV-II), syphilis, and cytomegalovirus. However, even with these comprehensive tests, cord blood banks do not guarantee that the stored cord blood is 100 percent free from infectious diseases. Thus, there will always be a risk of the patient getting infectious diseases through a cord blood transplant.