Why You Should Consider Banking Cord Blood?

Stem cell treatment has been a controversial topic over the last decade. Advanced stem cell research findings have been offering a promising approach to revolutionise the future of medicine. Why the medical community thinks stem cells have the potential to treat serious diseases affecting the world? Unique properties of these master cells make it a limitless internal repair system. Self renewal, differentiation and unspecialized nature are some of the noteworthy features. Sources of stem cells include embryos, adult tissues and amniotic fluid. While embryonic stem cell research has been surrounded by ethical arguments and debates, scientists are successful in using the umbilical cord blood stem cells for transplants. 

With the recent findings about the benefits of baby’s umbilical cord blood, researchers have been

encouraging the medical community and parents to bank it. Cord blood that is collected immediately after child birth is rich with stem cells. The process of extracting and preserving the extra blood found in umbilical cord and placenta is termed as umbilical cord blood banking. Amount of stem cells found in cord blood is much higher than those found in the bone marrow, which make it a perfect choice for transplants.  Moreover, harvesting the cord blood or tissue poses no risks as it neither hurts the mother nor the newborn. Nowadays, many parents are saving their child’s cord blood and valuable cord blood tissues with a long-term vision.

Private and public umbilical cord blood banking are available. Storing of cord blood may cost some dollars. However, parents can even think about donating the cord blood which may be a life-saving solution for transplant patients. Both the cord blood and cord tissue is enriched with stem cells, but they function differently. Cord blood contains Hematopoietic stem cells which develop into blood-related cells in body, while the umbilical cord blood tissues contain Mesenchymal stem cells which develop into structural and connective tissues. Both the stem cells are subjected to different clinical trials and holds the promise of curing several diseases such as spinal cord injury, diabetes, heart disease, Parkinson’s' disease, Alzheimer’s , lung disease, arthritis and organ failure. So think about taking the advantages of ongoing medical discoveries and opt for cord blood banking.