Category Archives: Stem Cells

How Are Stem Cells Preserved?

In modern times, as medical science progresses, it has invented new treatments for several diseases. One such significant invention is stem cell preservation to treat numerous diseases. Medical science has claimed that stem cells are powerful and effective in treating more than 80 diseases. That is why doctors are now motivating parents to preserve their baby’s stem cells to use them as a shield against those diseases.

But if you have first heard the term, you might wonder what stem cells are. These are small cells that have great potential and the capability to save lives. These master cells work as basic building blocks of the human body. They are unique and can transform into specialized cells like brain cells, blood cells, bone cells, muscle cells, and many more. When numerous factors like injury, aging, or illness affect our body, these cells can replace or repair these affected parts by restoring regular body function. Researchers have claimed that it can treat life-threatening diseases like cancer as well.

What is stem cell preservation?

Newborn stem cell preservation or banking is a process of procuring, processing, and storing them for future use in stem cell treatments. Stem cell banks use low temperatures to conserve the biological properties of these cells to protect them from contamination and degeneration.

The process of storing stem cells

After procuring the stem cells from your baby, the doctors immediately ship the cord blood to the bank. After arrival, the professionals process the cord blood under controlled conditions to ensure protection. The best stem cell preservation center uses a widely accepted and validated volume reduction system, efficiently recovering a decent number of nucleated cells required for transplant. After that, they test the cord blood samples for cell viability, sterility, and total nucleated cell count.

A significant aspect of maintaining your kid’s stem cell viability throughout the processing is by controlling the freezing rate. When preserving the cells, the best labs utilize a staged freezing method ensuring the cell’s future viability. Once the cells are brought to the required temperature, they are placed in a protected bag and a cryogenic storage cartridge. The cartridge then goes into the cryogenic storage tanks. In that way, they store your infant’s stem cells for future use.

Reasons to preserve stem cells.

To decide why most parents opt for newborn stem cell preservation, you can go through the below reasons.

• Stem cells can treat 80 diseases and some are life-threatening, like cancer.

• Your baby’s stem cells are effective not only for your baby, but you can also use them for your entire family.

• Preserved stem cells are stored in a secure environment so they will never age. As a result, you can use them whenever you want.

Stem Cell Preservation: No or Yes?

Parents want to welcome their babies into a safe nest that is in all ways secure. The baby’s health is one important factor parents wish for the best. It is why the trend of stem cell Newborn Stem Cell Preservation is on the rise.

If you are a parent considering saving your baby’s cord blood, you must have heard about Newborn Stem Cell Preservation already. While some encourage the practice, some individuals do not see its importance.

As you move ahead in this post, you will gain clarity about stem cell preservation and be able to make a perfect decision.

What are stem cells by the way?

Stem cells are collected from the cord blood while the baby is born. Doctors collect them in the delivery room before they proceed with cutting and clamping the umbilical cord.

Also called hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPCs), these cells are effective in treating serious disorders such as thalassemia, backbone issues, and even cancer.

Another potent source of stem cells is the bone marrow. However, extracting stem cells from bone marrow can be a painful process. Besides, the stem cells so retrieved cannot be preserved for long like the cord blood.

Collection of cord blood is a simpler process that takes ten minutes without extra inconvenience to both the mother and the baby.

There are two options to preserve cord blood: private cord blood banks and public cord blood banks.

• Public cord blood banks use the pooled cord blood samples for public use.

• Private cord blood banks strictly use the cord blood for the owner’s family.

Now that we realize the importance of cord blood, let’s discuss this tricky question:

Should I opt for Newborn Stem Cell Preservation? Yes or No?

Here we weigh the pros and cons of cord blood storage to help you make a more effective decision. Let’s look at it in detail.

Pros of stem cell extraction

Coming with numerous benefits, cord blood extraction and storage helps in many ways:

• Painless process: Compared to collecting the cells from bone marrow, it is painless to extract and preserve stem cells from cord blood.

• Tried and tested method: Millions of parents across the globe have opted for newborn stem cell preservation as a safety measure for their baby’s health.

• Privacy: When you opt for an affordable $19.99 cord blood bank, you can be assured of privacy that your baby’s cord blood is used only for your family’s purpose.

• Security: Cord blood contains stem cells that can transform into any sort of cell in the body. Thus, to cure life-threatening diseases like Thalassemia, stem cells extracted from the cord blood help immensely.

• Long life: One key advantage of storing stem cells is their lifetime. When preserved under cryogenic conditions, cord blood lasts 15-20 years effectively.

• Most-suited: Since cord blood is taken from the umbilical cord while birth, it has minimal chances of rejection when used for treatments at the later stages in life. On the other hand, the chances of rejection of donor cells are huge.

Cons of stem cell extraction

Despite its pros, some individuals and doctors suggest against the procedure. A close look at the pros helps understand why they say so.

• Costly: The charge of stem cell extraction and storage can be a costly affair provided the technology and expertise it demands. But if you choose a quality $19.99 cord blood bank

• Rarely put in use: Doctors stress that the chances of using cord cells for an individual are rarer. They weigh the cost of preserving the cord cells to the usage and discourage the practice.

• Inadequate: Stem cells in the cord blood might be helpful for children. However, as the number of cells in the cord blood might fall if stored inappropriately, the number of cells might not be adequate for adults. At such times, doctors pool the matching cord blood from donors or utilize the bone marrow extracted from the family members.

• Unhelpful scenarios: Stem cells extracted from a mother-baby with a family history of genetic diseases cannot help cure the baby of the same if they occur in the future. Since the genetic makeup will be the same in the stem cells, they are ineffective in fighting such hereditary conditions.

Conclusion

Stem cell preservation can be a personal choice for parents. Discuss with your family doctor and clarify your queries at the trusted stem cell bank before deciding on your baby’s stem cell preservation.

Reasons for Selecting Newborn Stem Cell Preservation

Have you ever wondered about storing your baby’s cord blood for future use? If not, then think about it. Well, cord blood includes hematopoietic stem cells. These cells can divert into any blood cell type, and you can use them for transplants. Not only this, but cord blood also cures many life-threatening diseases like some kinds of cancers, blood disorders, metabolic diseases, and immune deficiencies. Modern research reveals more and more ways cord blood can save lives.

So, you can understand the importance of cord blood for your newborn’s life. But do you know the concept of newborn stem cell preservation or cord blood banking? Well, it is a process of collecting life-saving stem cells from the placenta and umbilical cord and reserving them for future use.

If you want to store your newborn’s cord blood after the birth, you need to consult a doctor. They will then clamp the umbilical cord, cut the cord, and separate the mother from the baby. The physician then inserts a needle and gathers 40 milliliters of blood from the cord, and seals it in a bag to send it to a lab for testing and preservation.

As you know, cord blood has many helpful stem cells, but this is not all. There are many reasons why you should opt for newborn stem cell preservation. So, without further delay, start reading the below six reasons now.

· Stem cell preservation has life-saving capabilities

Cord blood contains numerous powerful and efficient stem cells. You can use these cells to treat, replace and reconstruct diseased blood cells. Not only this, but cord blood also helps treat many other serious diseases. Therefore, it is one of the primary reasons every parent should think about preserving their newborn’s stem cells.

· Stem cell treats many other health issues

As you have learned from the above point, stem cell preservation assists in treating many diseases. Besides this, there are nearly 80 types of diseases, where the physicians use cord blood as standard therapy. Some medical complications include leukemia, inherited immune deficiencies, sickle cell anemia, and many more. Therefore, you can see why the medical community recommends stem cell preservation in newborns.

· Stem cell collection is a safe and simple procedure

Many parents think that collecting their baby’s stem cell or cord blood is a complicated and painful process. However, it is a safe and simple procedure that takes place after the birth of your newborn. You might not believe that the entire collection process only takes five minutes. So, it is not only safe and simple but also fast.

· Stem cell preservation offers other advantages

The situation arrives when you need to transplant your newborn’s cord blood. In such cases, many parents opt for unrelated donor cord blood. But if you preserve your newborn’s stem cells and use them for transplant, you can get a successful transplant and many other significant benefits.

Stem cell preservation is also helpful for the twins, as you can use the cord cells of one healthy baby to treat the diseases of another one if they were a good match. It is especially applicable if the twins are fraternal or dizygotic.

· Stem cell preservation is a lifetime investment

Stem cell preservation is an investment for the future. Researchers have already revealed the effectiveness of cord blood stem cells. They use these cells to treat diseases like spinal cord injury, stroke, brain injury, type 1 diabetes, heart disease, Parkinson’s disease, and Alzheimer’s disease. Hence, it is another crucial reason that you should contemplate while planning to preserve your baby’s cord blood or stem cells.

Apart from the above, stem cell preservation is a single-time process. It means you will not collect your baby’s cord blood in the future. You can only collect them at birth, and that is why cord blood banking or stem cell preservation is the only chance for parents to collect and store the powerful cord blood stem cells with an affordable cord blood bank of $19.99/month.

Thus, after your child’s birth, you should consult a doctor and store your infant’s cord blood for further use.