Value of Umbilical Cord Blood Cells (2024)

FAQs

Value of Umbilical Cord Blood Cells? ›

Umbilical cord blood contains blood-forming stem cells, which can renew themselves and differentiate into other types of cells. Stem cells are used in transplants for patients with cancers like leukemia and lymphoma. Cord Blood can be used to treat over 80 other life- threatening diseases.

That small volume of blood corresponds to 470 million Total Nucleated Cells (TNC) or 1.8 million cells that test positive for the stem cell marker CD34. Thus, most healthy full-term babies have over a million blood-forming stem cells for cord blood banking.

Cord blood is the blood left in the umbilical cord after birth. It contains stem cells. These cells have the amazing ability to grow into many different kinds of cells, like bone marrow cells, blood cells, or brain cells. This can make them valuable for treating some diseases.

Umbilical cord blood is a very good source of stem cells, and these blood stem cells are useful in the treatment of many blood disorders and cancers. T​he placenta, umbilical cord and the blood within it are very important in pregnancy. However, the blood serves no purpose after delivery if discarded.

Umbilical cord blood offers advantages over bone marrow because cord blood does not require perfect human leukocyte antigen (HLA) tissue matching, has less incidence of graft vs host disease, and may be used allogenically (11,12).

The average length of the umbilical cord is 50-60 cm in the normal full term newborn infant. The length of the cord is an index of foetal activity and is dependent on the tension caused by the freely moving foetus, primarily during the second trimester.

Normal arterial cord blood gases for a term newborn:

pH: 7.18 – 7.38. PCO2: 32 – 66 (mmHg) HCO3-: 17 – 27 (mmol/L) PO2: 6 – 31 (mmHg)

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Academy of Pediatrics don't recommend routine cord blood storage. The groups say private banks should be used only when there's a sibling with a medical condition who could benefit from the stem cells.

Why is cord blood important? Cord blood is a valuable source of potentially life-saving stem cells, which can be used to treat leukemia, lymphoma, sickle cell anemia and other inherited disorders.

Blood from the umbilical cord and placenta is special because it has a large number of blood-forming cells. These cells might be life-saving for someone who has a disease such as leukemia, or lymphoma, or certain inherited metabolic or immune system disorders.

Should I keep my baby's stem cells? ›

Physician organizations don't typically recommend storing cord blood as a standard. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) doesn't recommend that parents routinely store their infants' umbilical cord blood for future use — unless there's an immediate medical need for that blood to be used for a sibling.

The umbilical cord contains a small amount of cord blood. Sometimes there isn't enough for a stem cell transplant into an older child or adult. Also, stem cells from cord blood may take longer to start making blood cells than stem cells from bone marrow stem cells.

Do Hospitals Keep Placentas? Hospitals treat placentas as medical waste or biohazard material. The newborn placenta is placed in a biohazard bag for storage. Some hospitals keep the placenta for a period of time in case the need arises to send it to pathology for further analysis.

How does umbilical cord blood help save lives? Umbilical cord blood contains blood-forming stem cells, which can renew themselves and differentiate into other types of cells. Stem cells are used in transplants for patients with cancers like leukemia and lymphoma.

Usually, the umbilical cord and placenta are discarded after birth. If a mother chooses to have her cord blood collected, the health care team will do so after the baby is born. With a sterile needle, they'll draw the blood from the umbilical vessels into a collection bag.

Cord blood is rich in blood-forming cells that can be used in transplants for patients with leukemia, lymphoma, and many other life-threatening diseases. It can be especially useful for transplant patients from ethnically diverse backgrounds who often have difficulty finding a transplant match.

The absolute range of readings is from 11.7-23.8 g. per 100 ml. with a standardized range (mean 'f2 S.D.) of 13.31-20.78 g. per 100 ml.; 95.4 per cent of observations fall within these limits.

We obtained reference values expressed as range (lower and upper reference value expressed as 2.5 and 97.5 percentiles) for cord blood in newborns with SVD: arterial cord blood: pH=7.01-7.39; pCO(2)=4.12-11.45 kPa; pO(2)=1.49-5.06 kPa; venous cord blood: pH=7.06-7.44; pCO(2)=3.33-9.85 kPa; pO(2)=1.80-6.29 kPa.

Parent's Guide to Cord Blood (PGCB) says the median number of total nucleated cells in a 60 mL cord blood collection is 47.0 x 10⁷, or 470 million cells. The minimum accepted public donation is often closer to one billion cells.