Umbilical Cord Storage
Recently, umbilical cords have become valuable commodities. While there are many manufacturers of beauty products that use the hormones contained in placental tissue for their products, the umbilical cord's most valuable resource is the blood contained in it. This article will describe how umbilical cord blood is extracted and discuss umbilical cord storage as well.
Extraction of cord blood
When the baby comes out of the vaginal canal during the birthing process, a long cord that is attached from the baby's navel to the placenta also comes out. This is called the umbilical cord. It is the cord that supplies the baby with nutrients and oxygen during its nine-month stay in the womb.
In the past, the umbilical cord, along with the other tissue that the mother expels during child birth, was simply discarded. Now, some mothers choose to have the umbilical cord saved. The process of preserving the umbilical cord involves severing it first from the baby. The point at which it is severed forms the umbilicus, also known as the navel or bellybutton. The end of the umbilical cord that is attached to the mother comes away naturally together with the baby. All of the placental tissue is then placed in a sterile structure with the umbilical cord suspended above it. This allows the umbilical blood to flow out of the cord naturally into the waiting sterile receptacle. Usually, a single umbilical cord can produce up to 160 milliliters of blood. This blood must then be quickly transported to an umbilical cord storage center. Once there, it will be tested for the presence of infectious diseases and other impurities. If it passes the test, it will be cryogenically frozen, causing the live blood cells to go into a state of suspended animation or cryostasis. This cryostatic blood is now ready for transplantation anytime.
Uses of cord blood
It has recently been proven that there are many therapeutic uses for umbilical cord blood. What makes cord blood so valuable is the presence of stem cells in it. These cells are used to repair damaged tissue. They have been used successfully to restore full operating functions to patients with spinal cord injuries. The most common use of umbilical cord blood is in the treatment of some forms of cancer such as lymphoma and leukemia. Its non-invasive transplantation, high success rate, and inability to produce graft versus host disease have made it very attractive to people suffering from these life-threatening diseases.
However, this kind of treatment has recently become the topic of debates. While the use of umbilical cord blood is a widely accepted method of treating certain diseases, a variant of this involving the extraction of stem cells from aborted fetuses has drawn a lot of controversy. Ethical issues have been raised regarding this procedure.