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| What is Cord Blood? |
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Once a baby is born and the umbilical cord is cut, some blood remains in the blood vessels of
the placenta and the portion of the umbilical cord that remains attached to it. After birth, the
baby no longer needs this extra blood. This blood is called placental blood or umbilical cord
blood: "cord blood" for short
Cord blood contains all the normal elements of blood - red blood cells, white blood cells,
platelets and plasma. But it is also rich in hematopoietic (blood-forming) stem cells, similar to
those found in bone marrow. This is why cord blood can be used for transplantation instead of
bone marrow.
Cord blood is being used increasingly on an experimental basis as a source related to stem
cells, as an alternative to bone marrow. Most cord blood transplants have been done to treat
diseases of the blood and/or immune system. It has also been used to restore the functional
deficiencies of several genetic diseases. |
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One unit contains 20 ml of cord blood, including almost all the white
blood cells (including the hematopoietic stem cells) in the donated
unit plus a cryoprotectant solution. The unit has a quarantine
overwrap, is placed in a protective metal canister and then frozen at a
controlled rate and stored in a BioArchive™ liquid nitrogen freezer.
The stem cells in one cord blood unit, as shown above, can engraft and
grow to replace a recipient's diseased bone marrow with new, healthy
bone marrow cells.
| What is cord blood used for? |
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Cord blood has been used in the treatment of more than 70 different
diseases so far. The most common disease category has been
leukemia. The next largest group are inherited diseases (of red blood
cells, the immune system and certain metabolic abnormalities.)
Patients with lymphoma, myelodysplasia and severe aplastic anemia
have also been successfully treated by cord blood transfusion.
Benefits of Cord Blood Transplantation
- Easily obtained without risk or pain to mother or infant
- Can be stored for personal use or donated for others to use
- Important for patients of ethnic minorities for whom matched bone marrow donors are difficult to locate
- Lower risk of contamination
- Less stringent HLA-matching required for use in transfusion
- Fewer side-effects after transplantation than
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