All About Cord Blood Transplantation

The very first successful cord blood stem cell transplant was performed in 1988, since then cord blood stem cells have been used in more than 7,000 transplants.

It is estimated that over 12,000 Americans are benefited every year from blood cell transplant. Cord blood stem cells have become quiet common and are used frequently as a therapy for blood diseases.

The blood obtained from the placentas of volunteer donors after they give birth. This blood is then banked for its storage or any other purpose to public or private banks so that this blood can be taken from these banks as and when required in any transplant.

As the number of these banks will grow, the patients will be able to find cord blood donor matches many months before they would get a suitable bone marrow donor.For conducting any therapy, doctors obtain cord blood from placentas of volunteer donors after they had given birth. If the umbilical cord blood of the donor and the acceptor do not have identical genes, the transfusion will be rejected.

A child’s own cord blood is the most perfect match for that same child that means theoretically there is no chance of the cells being rejected by him after the transplantation. It is said that cord blood transplants are more forgiving as compared to other procedures.

When the human derived umbilical cord blood stem cells were transplanted in an animal model, they showed positive therapeutic effects on lung and heart disorders in the experiments performed on the animal models.

There are nearly 250,000 new cancer patients per year who need stem blood transplantation of which 20% are unable to find suitable blood or a marrow match.

Basically there are three types of transplants that involve the use of stem blood cells obtained from umbilical cord blood. Several transplants include Bone marrow stem cells used in adult stem cell transplant, peripheral blood stem cells used in adult stem cell transplant and lastly umbilical cord blood stem cell transplant.

Adult stem cell transplant is the best-known stem cell therapy used to treat leukemia and other forms of cancer or any blood disorders. If the infusion or the transplantation process will be successful, the stem cells will produce the new and healthy leukocytes thus replacing the abnormal cells from the patient’s bone marrow.

Peripheral blood stem cells transplant is perhaps the less invasive treatment option than bone marrow option. The umbilical cord blood rich in multipotent stem cell can be successfully used to treat same types of illness as done by bone marrow stem cells or peripheral blood stem cells.

Umbilical cord blood is widely being used by the transplant centres now as an alternative source of stem cells for treating blood cancers including lymphoma, leukemia and myeloma.

The stem cells from the umbilical cord are collected after the childbirth and the umbilical cord has been detaches from the baby. These stem cells are commonly used in bone marrow transplantation in case the patient’s family or any unrelated donors are unable to have an appropriate bone marrow match.