% Match With Your Baby
The number of the autologous therapy cases has raised exponentially, compared with the growth in the number of treatments using cord blood stem cells donated by others. ).
Since there is a chance that a child may be a close match with a sibling, it is more beneficial to save cord blood stem cells from each child to increase the probability of matching a family member who may develop a disease requiring stem cell therapy. Moreover, the additional cord blood units can be used for patients whose treatments may require two cord blood units.
What The Future Holds
No one knows how stem cells will be used in the future, but researchers hope they may be used to treat many conditions, like Alzheimer’s, diabetes, heart failure, spinal cord damage, and others.
It’s possible that storing your child’s cord blood cells now may be useful one day in combating these diseases. For now, these treatments are only theories. It’s also not clear if stem cells from cord blood — as opposed to stem cells from other sources — will be useful in these potential treatments.
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Why Cord Blood Is So Special
Swirling around cord blood are millions of special kinds of blood stem cells known as hematopoietic stem cells, which can develop into any type of blood cell in the human body. On a given day, the stem cells in your bone marrow make billions of new red and white blood cells to replenish old ones that have died. But if they make mistakes, the result can be serious, even fatal. Leukemia, for instance, results when the body produces too many abnormal white blood cells, which can crowd out healthy ones.
Before the 1980s, the only way to get a blood stem cell transplantfor a disease like leukemia wasto use bone marrow from a donor. But that can be a long and challenging process and can come with serious risks for the recipient . Cord blood transplants, which come from your own cord blood or a donors and which are administered similar to a blood transfusion, proved to be faster , less risky and in many cases, just as useful. They also became a boon for people of color, since bone marrow registries in the United States tend not to be racially and ethnically diverse, and cord blood doesnt require as exact a match as bone marrow.
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Newborn Stem Cell Collection Kits: Safeguarding Your Newborns Future
Stem cells are truly amazing. They are incredibly flexible cells that can be utilised to cure a vast range of diseases and cancers. What most people dont realise is that umbilical cord blood stem cells are younger and more versatile than adult stem cells, meaning that they are potentially life-changing for you and your family.
New uses for stem cells
The unique quality of newborn stem cells is expansive. They reduce complications when it comes to organ transplants and cure various blood cancers, just to name a few uses. Research by the NHS has also found that stem cells are regenerative and can help combat disease that causes muscle wastage. New uses for the stem cells are being discovered every day, so who knows what stem cells will be capable of curing when your child is fully grown?
The birth of your child is one of the best days of your life and a stem cell collection kit is likely the last thing on your extensive birth plan. However, it is really something you should consider for the benefit of your family in the long run. When you invest in our newborn stem cell collection kit, we guarantee that stem cell collection will be seamless and not interfere with the labour process.
Our newborn stem cell collection kits
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The Contents Of The Umbilical Cord Blood Collection Kit Are:
- Cord blood collection bag
- Gauze swabs
- Chlorhexidine swabs to sterilise the needle insertion point
- Tube clamp
- Cord blood packaging
- Ancillary items for procurement
- Temperature monitoring probe
- +Cord collection items where specified
Your collection kit and all of the items within it have their own barcode and ID number. These are completely unique to your baby and ensure that the entire process of cord blood collection, processing and storage is fully traceable, from end to end.
All of these items, as well as pictorial instructions are contained within the tamper evident packaging inside the Cells4Life Collection Kit box. Please do not open the packaging until it is required for use and dont forget to take it with you to the hospital on the big day!
Find out more, request your welcome pack today
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When Are The Payments Due
Cells4Life charges a deposit of £210 prior to birth in order to provide your cord blood collection kit and set up the service. If you require a licensed third-party to collect your babys cells, the phlebotomy fee is also due before your baby is born. We do not require the remainder of this balance until after the birth and once we have performed tests to confirm that the stem cells are viable and suitable for storage. If the viability of your babys sample falls below 70% we will give you the option to continue to store the cells, or destroy them and pay no further fees.
Effectiveness Of The Cord Blood Over Other Stem Cells
The cord blood is more easily available from the umbilical cords of the newborns and thus, the scientists depend more on the stem cells derived from this fresh cord blood. Earlier, the cord blood cells were used for the treatment of the siblings and other close family members of the newborns. However, now plenty of diseases are found to be curable with the help of these cord blood cells of even the unrelated babies. The cord blood cells are simply inserted into the damaged body organ and let the cells differentiate and multiply there to replace the problematic tissues completely. The effective functions of these cord blood cells recover the lost immunity power and provide new life to the patients. Plenty of children have been cured from thalassemia and sickle cell disease with the application of stem cells derived from the cord blood. The immature cells present in the cord blood is found to be more useful as the stem cells than the adult stem cells, as these cells are more easily cultured and differentiated according to the requirements of the scientists and doctors. The adult stem cells are available in limited number of places in the human body and the specified cells of those body organs may not be of use in other parts of the body whereas the stem cells extracted from the cord blood can be inserted anywhere of the body for stem cell therapy or the replacements of the damaged body cells.
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Follow Up With Traceable Processes
All processes in Stemcord cord blood banking are managed according to the relevant quality management system, cGMP. The quality and safety process, which starts before the tissue or cell sample is taken, covers every step from sample collection, tissue or cell acceptance, processing, storage, administration to the patient and post-application follow-up.
In order to manage this process and monitor the activities and environmental conditions of any cellular product or tissue during processing, the Stemcord laboratory and devices are monitored 24/7 with a special software system. All critical parameters are monitored and electronic records of that product are kept.
Who Can Use Cord Blood
Cord Blood Banking. Umbilical cord blood stem cells can be used in transplants to treat a variety of pediatric disorders including leukemia, sickle cell disease, and metabolic disorders. Patients who need a cord blood transplant can currently try to find a match with a sibling or from an unrelated person.
A: Its easy! Follow these 5 simple steps:
The use of cord blood is determined by the treating physician and is influenced by many factors, including the patients medical condition, the characteristics of the sample, and whether the cord blood should come from the patient or an appropriately matched donor. Cord blood has established uses in transplant medicine however, its use in regenerative medicine is still being researched. There is no guarantee that treatments being studied in the laboratory, clinical trials, or other experimental treatments will be available in the future.
For references, click here.
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What Is Stem Cell Therapy
Stem-cell therapy is widely defined as the use of stem cells for treating or preventing a disease or condition. The most widely used stem cell therapy today is via bone marrow transplant, but with the exponential growth of technology and medical research, therapies derived from umbilical cord blood are growing in popularity. Stem cell therapy can be used to treat a variety of diseases and conditions, ranging from types of cancer to heart disease and more.
Frequently Asked Questions Expand All
A disadvantage of cord blood is that it does not contain many stem cells. Units from several donors can be combined to increase the number of stem cells if a transplant is needed for an adult.
In an autologous transplant, the cord blood collected at birth is used by that same child. This type of transplant is rare for the following reasons:
A childs stem cells cannot be used to treat genetic diseases in that child. All of the stem cells have the same genes that cause the disease.
A childs own stem cells cannot be used to treat that childs leukemia, a cancer of the blood.
In an allogenic transplant, another persons stem cells are used to treat a childs disease. This kind of transplant is more likely to be done than an autologous transplant. In an allogenic transplant, the donor can be a relative or be unrelated to the child.
For an allogenic transplant to work, there has to be a good match between donor and recipient. A donor is a good match when certain things about his or her cells and the recipients cells are alike. If the match is not good, the recipients immune system may reject the donated cells. If the cells are rejected, the transplant does not work.
Cord blood is kept in one of two types of banks: public or private. They differ in important ways that may affect your choice.
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What Is Public Cord Blood Banking
In public cord blood banking, the baby’s cord blood is donated to a cord blood bank where it’s stored for use by anyone who may need a transplant. It may also be used for medical research.
Remember, cord blood contains stem cells that can treat a host of diseases and the stem cells from your babys cord blood could help save someone elses life. Thats why most major medical organizations encourage public donation.
Donating cord blood is free, and public cord blood banks pay for collection and storage. When parents donate their baby’s cord blood, they sign away all rights to it, and the bank owns the blood meaning there’s no guarantee that it will be available to the family if they need it down the line.
There may be less legwork involved in finding a public bank compared to finding a private one. The easiest way to donate publicly is to deliver in a hospital that works directly with the National Marrow Donor Program.
Public donors have to meet certain eligibility requirements. If youre healthy and are having just one baby , you can probably donate. To find out, check out this list of donor guidelines.
Smart Cells The Opportunity To Protect Your Familys Future
The Kensington Wing are working in partnership with Smart Cells who provide private cord blood collection services to patients of the wing.
What is stem cell banking?
Smart Cells store the stem cells found in umbilical cord blood and tissue should they be needed in the future. The richest source of stem cells is umbilical cord blood meaning that birth is a once in a lifetime opportunity to collect these precious cells which could be used to save the life of someone in your family.
What are stem cells?
Stem cells are biological cells found in the body. They have the ability to change into many different cell types such as blood, bone, tissue and organ cells.
There are more than 80 conditions that can be treated using umbilical cord stem cells including leukaemia, cerebral palsy and thalassaemia. Your babys stem cells can also potentially match and treat their siblings or parents if required.
How does cord blood collection work?
When you go to the hospital to have your baby, you just need to remember to take your stem cell collection kit with you and hand it to your private consultant who can collect the sample for you. The process is very simple and is totally pain-free and non-invasive for both mother and baby.
Why Smart Cells?
They have been brilliant, they made the whole process very easy and explained everything in perfect detail to us. Vogue Williams, broadcaster
Book a one-to-one with Smart Cells
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Progress In The Research Involving The Baby Stem Cells
Numerous scientists from many countries are now working on the applications of baby stem cells for the cure of many physical disorders, mainly in the European Union and in the United States.
Though now more than 100 diseases have been cured with the stem cell therapies, extensive researches are still going on in this field for the discovery of more cost effective ways of stem cell treatments. It is assumed that many more years will be needed to make this branch of medical science popular among the common mass, by the provision of better safety and faster cure from the critical diseases in future. Much better chemotherapy medicines are also expected to be created with the help of these stem cell researches. The scientists are also trying to discover useful treatments for cerebral palsy and autism, with the use of the cord blood of those affected children. However, the patients should not avail the therapies that have not yet been approved for the safety, as these untested treatments may even turn fatal, as found in some cases occurring in the countries of the eastern part of the world, such as India.
So What Exactly Are Stem Cells
Stem Cells are the building blocks of life. They are undifferentiated biological cells that can differentiate into specialized cells and can divide to produce more stem cells. In essence, for a cell to be classified as a stem cell it needs to possess the ability to self-renew and divide itself into two cells and secondly, they should be able to turn into cells that can adapt to different organs, i.e. a stem cell can function as a simple blood cell, a brain cell or a lung cell. The process of extracting stem cells from the umbilical cord right after birth is the most preferred way of harvesting stem cells because of the low amount of risk and costs involved. The umbilical cord blood is considered as one of the richest sources of hematopoietic stem cells, which possess the capability to form all types of blood cells red cells, white cells and platelets.
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What Is Cord Blood
Cord blood is extra blood thats left in a babys umbilical cord and placenta after the cord is cut. Babies dont need this leftover blood after theyre born, but it contains cells that could help those who are sick, now or in the future.
Cord blood contains all the same components as normal blood, including red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets and plasma. What makes it special is that its also rich in hematopoietic stem cells special blood-forming stem cells that are similar to those found in bone marrow. These cells can help treat many types of diseases.
How Long Can You Store Stem Cells
Cord blood banking is a relatively new service, so we have only been able to thaw and prove the viability of stored samples for up to about 25 years of age. However, based on their experience with other types of cell storage, the scientific consensus is that your babys stem cells will be viable for storage indefinitely, ensuring that they are available when they need them most in old age.
Treatments and clinical trials
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Collecting Newborn Stem Cells
Cord blood and cord tissue collection is a minimally invasive process. You dont have to make any special arrangements or modify your birth plan to accommodate banking.
Samples are collected after the baby is born, and the umbilical cord is cut according to your wishes. This means if you wish to do delayed clamping, the samples will be collected after.
Once this is done, your healthcare provider will first use the needle supplied in the kit to extract the leftover blood from the cord and place it in the cord blood collection tube. Next, if you have selected to also bank cord tissue, the umbilical cord itself will be collected and placed in the vessel designated for cord tissue samples.
You had the hard job of making the decision to preserve your babys cord blood and/or cord tissue. Once the samples are collected, your job is done! Now all you have to do is enjoy your newborn and let us take care of the rest. When the processing is complete, we will send you an email with all the information you need to know about your babys stem cell samples.