Cord blood is the blood that is collected from the umbilical cord of a baby.

This cord blood is collected after the baby is born. The mother of the baby has to intimate about her intentions to donate cord blood to the cord blood banks. With the consent of the pregnant mother the blood banks would make arrangements to collect the cord blood after the delivery of the baby.

The cord blood cells are found to have special properties that can be used in the treatment of patients who suffer from anemia and leukemia. Lack of blood cell production is found to get you into a condition called anemia and over production leads to leukemia. Both these conditions are not favorable to the patient.

Hence the stem cells that are primary for the production of the blood cells in our body have to be replaced. Where would you go for the stem cells? The cord blood that is taken from the umbilical cord is found to the excellent source of these stem cells. The stem cells that are taken from the cord blood are used in the treatment of such anemia and leukemia patients.

The process of collecting the cord blood cells is easy. The cord blood is drained into a blood bag for storage in the cord blood bank. It should be known that collecting cord blood is in no way going to affect the mother or the child. Details of the blood such as tissue type and the type of blood are recorded by the cord blood bank and then it is stored in a cord blood bank.

The bank that is used to store the cord blood can be a private bank or a public bank. The difference between a private bank and a public bank is that the services offered by the private bank are mostly chargeable whereas in the case of a public bank it is not so.

The blood so collected and stored in a cord blood bank can be stored for around ten years. Such is the storage facility in the blood bank that it can store the cord blood for long durations. The cord blood cells are stored at very low temperatures. At these temperatures there is a possibility that the blood cells get damaged. To prevent that damage to the blood cells, some chemicals are added to the blood so that it is not affected.