about cord blood

What is Cord Blood?

A baby's birth is miraculous in countless ways, but many people are not aware of one potentially lifesaving aspect of birth: umbilical cord blood.

Cord blood—as it is commonly known—is the blood that remains in the umbilical cord and placenta’s blood vessels after the umbilical cord is cut when a baby is born. Normally discarded after childbirth, cord blood is a rich, non-controversial source of stem cells. Stem cells can be used to treat a variety of deadly blood diseases, including leukemia, lymphoma and sickle cell anemia.

Bone marrow transplants from healthy, matching donors are a traditional approach to treating life threatening blood disorders. Unfortunately, there is a shortage of matching, transplantable bone marrow. Aside from the complexities of finding a match, collecting bone marrow from a donor is an invasive and painful process.

Up to 90% of those destined to die due to the scarcity of matching, transplantable bone marrow could be saved by cord blood.

Stem cells collected from cord blood can be frozen and preserved for years and be made available immediately for transplantation in routine or emergency clinical situations. Stem cells from cord blood can also be used for scientific research.

In addition to being a rich source of stem cells, cord blood

· is natural, non-embryonic—and not controversial,

· is more easily matched than bone marrow,

· reduces the risk of graft vs. host disease (GVHD), and

· is collected painlessly and non-invasively.

about cord blood

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