Cord Blood Banking
Cord blood banking is the safe and painless process of collecting and storing the remaining blood in your newborn’s umbilical cord after the medical provider clamps the cord. Then the blood it is preserved and stored, in one of two types of banks: public or private, until such a time that your child may need it.
The blood that remains in the umbilical cord after it is clamped, cord blood, is rich with hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) that can be used for an ever-expanding number of medical treatments.
HSCs are so valuable because these cells have the ability to become any type of blood cell or blood component in the human body. These versatile cells are the same type of cells that have been used since the 1970s in bone marrow transplants. Today, they are approved by the FDA to treat more than 80 serious medical conditions, including diseases of the immune system, genetic disorders, neurologic disorders, and some forms of cancer, including leukemia and lymphoma. For some of these diseases, stem cells are the primary treatment. For others, treatment with stem cells may be used when other treatments have not worked or in experimental research programs.
Here are a few companies you might contact for more information:
- Americord
- CordBlood Registry
- CorCell
- Cryo-Cell
- FamilyCord
- Lifebank
- Maze
- Miracle Cord
- New England Cord Blood Bank
- Stemcyte
- Viacord