Cord Blood Bank

How Cord blood collection is being done?

Cord blood collection is the process of collecting the cord blood from the umbilical cord at the time of birth of a child. The umbilical cord is clipped at the two ends and the blood contained in the umbilical cord is siphoned out through a thin needle into the bag or vial as the case may be. The umbilical cord blood collection is then shipped to the cord blood bank along with the placenta for further extraction of stem cells for preservation and use.

Cord blood collection will only be possible if the mother to be has registered herself with the cord blood bank and has requested that the umbilical cord blood collection and placenta of her baby should be preserved for future use. If she has registered with a private bank for the cord blood collection, she should have paid the necessary charges for collection, storage and any other service charges that the bank may require paid. If the mother has decided to donate the cord blood to a public cord blood bank, she is not required to make any payment for collection, storage or any other services.

Normally cord blood collection at the time of birth needs to be done by highly skilled doctors who know the procedures. They are expected to use only the bags and vials supplied by the cord blood collection bank and no other. This is to ensure that the cord blood collection is not contaminated.

Cord blood collection is followed by a process that ensures that the cord blood collected is capable of being preserved for years to come. The blood is first tested for infection of HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, infant leukemia or other kinds of blood disorders. The cord blood collection is then centrifugally divided into component parts, and sediment is injected for the separation of the stem cells and other cells. Then the collected cord blood is divided into red blood corpuscles, white blood corpuscles and plasmatic cells. The stem cells form a part of the white blood cells.

Before cord blood collection is done, the cord blood bank will ask the family to fill up a number of questionnaires regarding the age and health history of the family members. The answers to these questionnaires help the cord blood bank collecting the cord blood determine the likelihood of the family requiring the use of the cord blood collection that was made by the bank. The bank then offers shipping and handling charges and will undertake to safely transport the cord blood collection to the bank for storage and future retrieval. Most of these banks use reliable medical courier services to transport the cord blood collection as this kind of goods can be handled only by specialists who know their job. The courier services also inform the clients of the safe delivery of the cord blood collection to the bank.

The cord blood banks really make it very easy for parents to get the cord blood collection, transportation, preservation and storage done without the least bit of trouble.