A cord blood unit is the term used for the blood collected from the umbilical cord and placenta after a baby is born. 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. Cord blood is one of three sources of cells used in transplant; the other two are bone marrow and peripheral (circulating) blood (also called peripheral blood stem cell or PBSC transplants).

You are not responsible for finding your own donor. If you need an unrelated donor or cord blood transplant, your primary doctor will refer you to an NMDP transplant center. Your transplant center will work with the NMDP to find a donor or cord blood unit for you. In general, we encourage patients and their immediate families to focus their energies on caring for the patient. The NMDP’s ongoing recruitment efforts add nearly 33,000 new donors to the Registry each month.

Prior to the 1980's almost all of the incredibly valuable material from umbilical cord blood (CB) was merely discarded after birth. The first CB transplant took place in France in 1988 with many subsequent successful transplants. The hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) derived from CB have been used in place of bone marrow for transplantation to treat a number of diseases including malignancies including certain leukemias, Hodgkin's disease and types of lymphoma.

After your primary doctor refers you to an NMDP transplant center, your transplant center will work with the NMDP to find a donor or cord blood unit for you. Your transplant center will request more tests to see if a potential donor or cord blood unit is a suitable match. Sometimes more testing shows that potential donors or cord blood units do not match you at all the details or markers your center requires. Your transplant center will also look at other information.

The NMDP is committed to building an inventory of high-quality cord blood units to provide the best possible result for patients. When donated cord blood meets these standards for transplant, it will be stored and listed on the NMDP Registry: The cord blood unit must be large enough (contain enough blood-forming cells) for a transplant. If there are too few cells, the cord blood may be used for research to improve transplants for future patients or it may be discarded.

Umbilical cord blood is a rich source of blood stem cells. These cells can be used to replace blood-forming cells in a person being treated for cancer or other life-threatening diseases such as haemoglobinopathies, leukaemias, inborn errors of metabolism, immune system deficiencies and numerous genetic diseases. Stem cell transplantation often offers hope for cure to many patients.

France, 1988 - A team of doctors, including Dr. Eliane Gluckman, a member of the Cryobanks International S.A.M.B.A. performed the world's first successful human cord blood transplant into a child with Fanconi's Anemia. In 1991, a transplant was successfully performed on a child with chronic myelogenous leukemia. These initial accomplishments opened doors to use cord blood for situations where traditional bone marrow was routinely utilized.

No, umbilical cord blood cells are taken from the baby's umbilical cord and placenta after the baby is born, and not from an embryo.

Donating cord blood will not change your labor or delivery in any way. During delivery, all the focus is on you and your baby. No blood is taken from your baby, only from the cord and placenta after the baby is born.

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.

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.

Each collected CBU undergoes comprehensive testing to ensure the safety and viability of the stem cells. These include infectious disease testing for the AIDS virus (HIV), hepatitis, West Nile Virus, and HTLV I/II virus. Examples of other tests are performed on the unit include blood typing (ABO and Rh typing), HLA typing, fungal and bacterial cultures, and other tests to determine the viability of the unit (e.g.

Your baby's cord blood is rich in stem cells, which are special cells normally found in our bone marrow. Stem cells are the master cells responsible for producing all of the mature cells in our blood and immune system. They form the white cells that fight infection, the red cells that carry oxygen, the platelets that promote clotting and the cells of our immune systems.

Umbilical cord blood is rich in stem cells, the building blocks to all other cells in the blood and immune system. These valuable cells can now be cryogenically preserved as a form of "biological insurance." Top

You and your baby will not be listed on the NMDP Registry. Only the cord blood unit will be listed. The collected cord blood unit will be given a number at the hospital. This is how it is identified on the NMDP Registry and at the public cord blood bank. No name is associated with it.

The collection process is safe, easy and painless for both mother and baby. Our collection procedure does not interfere with the delivery or subsequent care for mother or baby. After the safe delivery of your child, the placenta is delivered and your obstetrician or midwife cleans the umbilical cord (with the materials provided) and inserts the blood bag needle into the umbilical vein. The blood flows into the bag by gravity.

Cord blood, or umbilical cord blood (CB), is blood that remains in the umbilical cord and placenta at the time of birth. This blood has typically been discarded following delivery. However, Scientists are now aware that CB is a rich source of stem cells which can be collected, processed and cryogenically preserved for potential, future use. Stem cells from cord blood could theoretically be used as a source of cells for transplants to treat a number of diseases.

The umbilical cord blood is collected after the baby has been delivered and the umbilical cord has been clamped and cut. The cord blood can then be obtained before or after the delivery of the placenta (afterbirth). In the postplacental method (ex-utero method), the trained personnel will collect the umbilical cord blood after the afterbirth has been taken out of the mother's womb.