On any given day, more than 6,000 patients, their families and friends around the world are searching the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) Registry for a matching bone marrow donor or cord blood unit. These patients have leukemia, lymphoma and other life-threatening diseases that can be treated by a bone marrow or cord blood transplant.

Once the donated cord blood is processed and stored at the Cord Blood Bank, it is listed on the NMDP Registry and available to patients all over the world who are searching for a match. The cord blood can be transplanted into any patient whose doctor selects the cord as a match for that patient.

The cord blood bank keeps the mother's name confidential, and it protects the privacy of the family. Names are not shared with any patient or transplant center. The baby's cord blood is identified by a number, never by name.

Any child or adult will have equitable access to the cord blood, provided that there is an appropriate medical indication and the unit is suitably matched and acceptable for transplantation. The decision to transplant is not the responsibility of StemCyte but that of a transplant physician.

It is the blood obtained from the umbilical cord at birth. The cord blood contains stem cells. Stem cells are the cells that make all of the other cells in your body, i.e., heart cells, neural cells, etc. These stem cells continue to reproduce throughout life unless they are destroyed by cancer or blood disease. If your stem cells are destroyed, you will die unless they are replaced by transplant.

When a patient needs a transplant for a life-threatening disease, his or her doctor considers many factors: Should the cells come from the patient (autologous transplant) or from a donor (allogeneic transplant)? The type of transplant used depends on which works best for that disease. Which cell source (bone marrow, peripheral blood, or cord blood) is best for the patient? Each source has advantages and disadvantages. Patients who have a hard time finding a matched bone marrow donor.

The use of cord blood is an alternative to a bone marrow transplant. Both contain valuable stem cells often required in the treatment of various cancers (leukemia) and genetic and immune disorders. In patients that have undergone intensive radiation or chemotherapy, healthy stem cells may be used to rebuild a damaged blood system.

Family members or friends who have the same blood type as you can provide a directed blood donation for you, however, most studies show that directed donations are no safer than blood donated by healthy community volunteers. In fact, blood donations from close relatives are more likely to cause a serious immune reaction. In these situations, doctors must treat the blood with radiation before it can be used safely.

The preserved cord blood stem cells are, of course, available as a perfect match for the child from whose umbilical cord they were collected. Because there is a 1-in-4 chance of a perfect match with a sibling, parents may choose to make the cord blood available to siblings or potentially other family members who may need them. That decision is theirs alone.

Donating cord blood for public use or storing it for your family's private use is a personal decision. You can find detailed information in these FAQs that can help you make an informed decision.

We use the closed system bag which significantly reduces the chance of bacterial or fungal infection.

of people who need bone marrow transplants can not find a match. Finding a proper match is especially problematic for African-Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and people of mixed ethnicity. By banking your baby's stem cells, the odds of having a proper match for the baby or another family member improve.

Donating cord blood is medically safe. Donating poses no health risks to you or your baby. Donating does not affect your baby or your birth experience because the cord blood is collected after your baby is born. If you or your baby experience any complications during delivery, your doctor will not collect the cord blood. There is no cost for donating for public use.

Donating your child's cord blood or storing it for private use is a personal decision that only you can make. If you have a child with leukemia or other disease that may be treatable by transplant and you are pregnant, talk with your oncologist or pediatrician about saving your baby's cord blood. Families may feel a great deal of pressure from the promotions and advertisements they receive from the for-profit private storage cord blood banks.

If you are interested, or someone you know is interested, in donating cord blood, look for a Cord Blood Bank or collecting hospital within or close to your community. There are only a small number of cord blood banks in the United States, so donation to a local bank is not possible in many areas.

Identifying information is never exchanged between a cord blood donor and cord blood transplant recipient. The identity of the cord blood donor is kept confidential at the cord blood bank.

During pregnancy, the umbilical cord is the lifeline between mother and baby. Once the umbilical cord is discarded after your baby's birth, you lose the chance to preserve the precious stem cells it contains that are an exact match for your child. By preserving your baby's stem cells, he or she will have a guaranteed source of perfectly matched cells in the event a life threatening illness develops and the cells need to be used to combat the disease.

It can help treat diseases such as malignancies, bone marrow failure, hemoglobinopathies, immunodeficiencies, and/or inborn errors of metabolism.

Several tests are performed on each unit of blood, including blood type and testing for infectious diseases, such as HIV, hepatitis and West Nile virus infection. The tests are extremely sensitive, but they cannot detect very recent infection (within a few days before the donation), so we count on our blood donors to answer the health history questions accurately.

According to the National Blood Data Resource Center (NBDRC), 13.9 million units of whole blood are donated in the United States each year. Approximately eight million volunteer blood donors provide blood for about 4.5 million patients annually.

Note: The following information will be based on whole blood donations. It may not be accurate for apheresis donors.

Typically, each donated unit of blood - referred to as whole blood - is separated into multiple components, such as red blood cells, plasma, platelets, and cryoprecipatitated AHF (antihemophilic factor). Each component can be transfused to different individuals with different needs. Therefore, each donation can be used to help save as many as three lives.

Columbia University Medical Center relies on voluntary blood donors and extensive testing to maintain safe blood supplies. Please speak with your surgeon well in advance of surgery regarding blood banking and the possibility of donating blood for yourself or having family and friends donate blood before surgery.

Cryo-Cell Cord Blood Bank currently uses a hydroxyethyl starch (Hespan®) method to reduce the number of red blood cells, isolating the nucleated white blood cell fraction, which contains the stem cells. These cells are then mixed with DMSO, the cryoprotectant, and Dextran, and stored in a special compartmentalized cryobag.