Preserve and Store Umbilical Cord Blood

Preserving and storing umbilical cord blood is not a mockery. Blood from the umbilical cord is a lifesaver according to research. Many lives have been saved and prolonged because of this research. Public cord blood banks accept donations of umbilical cord blood and use this blood to save and prolong the lives of many people. Stories have been published about children and adults being given new life because of umbilical cord blood.


Here are some things to consider on how you can preserve and store umbilical cord blood.

1. Ensure the good health of the baby in your womb. Giving birth to a healthy baby results in healthy umbilical cord blood. Taking the vitamins prescribed for pregnant women ensures the usefulness in preservation and storage of the umbilical cord blood.
2. Remember the precious lives of dying patients. Before giving birth to your baby, inform the hospital that you are allowing a cord blood donation from the umbilical cord of your infant. Doctors would then be very glad to help because this will help advancement in the medical field. Malignant ailments are believed to be treated by the blood from a baby's umbilical cord.
3. Before the placenta is delivered, blood from the umbilical cord is extracted. This is called utero collection. When the collection is done after the placenta is delivered, the process is called ex-utero collection. In this process, the cord blood is drained into a bag after placing the placenta in a sterile structure. The umbilical cord is cut off from the baby and blood is drained using a syringe. Approximately 40 to 150 ml of blood from the umbilical cord must be drained. Some of the mother's blood is also collected to detect if infectious diseases are present.
4. Forward the collected cord blood to a prospective blood bank for storage. Once this blood reaches the banking facility, it is tested for infectious diseases. Within 36 to 48 hours after collection, the samples are transferred to a lab from the cord blood bank. After processing, and if the status was determined to be clean, the blood is ready to be transplanted to family members.
5. One type of processing depletes the cord blood of red blood cells. A cryopreservant is added to the processed cord blood, ensuring that the cryogenic process does not negatively affect the unit of cord blood. A liquid nitrogen tank is used to store the cord blood. The storage temperature would be -90 degrees Celsius.
6. Do not discard the umbilical cord. Preserving and storing the umbilical cord blood is not your concern. Once you donate the blood, the medical staff is in a position to store it and preserve it for future use. Hospitals welcome this gesture because they believe that stem cells from cord blood can be transplanted into children with malignant diseases. It has advantages over bone marrow transplantation.

Dreadful diseases could now be cured with the use of umbilical cord blood. Recipients of cord blood would not know the identity of the donor. Killer diseases can now be treated using cord blood because it has abundant stem cells. Preserving and storing umbilical cord blood has to be taken seriously in order to preserve lives.