Cord blood is a sample of blood taken from a newborn baby's umbilical cord. The meaning of a cord blood transplant is saving the cord blood for later use.
Cord blood stem cells are stored inside a nitrogen-filled freezer. These stem cells are used to cure fatal diseases like cancers, brain tumors, cerebral palsy, diabetes, Parkinsons, etc.
Only a doctor familiar with your condition and medical history can tell you if you are eligible for a cord blood transplant. Barring a family donation situation, you can only get cord blood from the National Bone Marrow Registry (which also oversees donated cord blood) under the same transplant guidelines as other organs in the U.S. Your doctor brings your case before a hospital transplant committee, who decide where on the list you get placed, and then you wait for cord blood that is an HLA match. No application.
Stem cell transplant is the process in which diseased cells are replaced by the stem cells collected at the time of birth from umbilical cord blood or bone marrow.
You should read this article entitled, "Umbilical Cord Blood Cell Transplants May Help ALS Patients." http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080625073758.htm
The benefit of having a umbilical cord in a cord blood bank is that they can be used for future use. The cord can be used for transplants which helps to treat diseases of the blood and immune systems.
Stem cells identify is the study of the tissues and organs in human development. The umbilical cord blood is a good source of S because it is used in bone marrow transplants also for peripheral blood.
Cord blood kept in a cord blood bank is cryopreserved, meaning it is frozen to -196 degrees Celsius using liquid nitrogen. Before freezing, certain chemicals are added to the cord blood in order to preserve it so it will still be viable during and after freezing. It is also frozen slowly so as to keep the cells alive as long as possible during the freezing process.
"Cord Blood America collects, tests, processes, and preserves umbilical cord blood. They do this in order to provide families with a place to store this precious cord blood for future use."
The cord blood is either donated in the public cord blood bank or stored in a family cord blood bank. Storing cord blood in a family blood bank requires you to pay annual storage fee.
Watch the video by clicking on the link I added to the related links section below, and get answers to these questions about cord blood banking:What is cord blood?What does cord blood banking cost?Is cord blood banking worth the cost?Why is cord blood banking so expensive?Are all cord blood banks expensive?
This can come in handy for babies that need a blood transfusion. There are many places that will collect these for free. Studies have proven that this blood can help the child recover from illness later in life. It has also been shown to help siblings in need of plasma transplants.
These two transplants are similar because they use stem cells as their way to cure a person's malignant disease. The only big difference is stem cells used in cord blood transplant come from a newborn's umbilical cord. This cord is commonly referred to as cord blood and it is similarly effective as the stem cells found in bone marrow. One cord blood might not be enough to cure an adult. An adult needs two units of cord blood to get cured.