Cord blood a new trend in child medical therapy

Researchers are touting a rapidly growing trend in the use of blood cells to treat medical conditions.

It involves saving a small amount of blood from a newborn’s umbilical cord within 15 minutes of birth, just in case the child needs it some time in the future.

The cells also can be used for other biologically-matched children, either in their own family or the general public.

July is Cord Blood Banking Awareness Month. And researchers like those at the San Antonio-based GenCure Cord Blood Center are encouraging the public to learn more about the benefits of cord blood.

“Umbilical cord blood and its stem cells have a proven value to medicine, with the promise of cures and treatments for more and more diseases every day,” said Mary Ellen Mooney, director of Cord Blood Operations for GenCure .

“We’re proud to be contributing to both life-saving therapies and important research.”

The advantage of a child having access to his or her own stem cells is it eliminates the rejection problems that can occur when using another person’s cells, researchers say.

Researchers are looking at cord blood for treatment of conditions including cerebral palsy, traumatic brain injury and type 2 diabetes, as well as inflammatory diseases like rheumatoid arthritis.

GenCure houses the Texas Cord Blood Bank, or TCBB, a statewide repository of cord blood donations from newborns made at hospitals across the state.

The cord blood bank is listed on a national registry and is accessible worldwide for patients in need.

TCBB has 15,000 units of cord blood in storage and has distributed 300 units for transplant — 60 in 2014 alone.

Cord blood contains millions of stem cells that would otherwise be thrown away as medical waste.

As new uses are found for stem cells, there is a possibility at some point those “banked” stem cells could be used to save a child or someone else’s life, even if it’s several years down the line, according to the Valley Baptist Medical Center Online Health Library.

Since 1988, there have been more than 30,000 cord blood transplants performed around the world, GenCure stated.

Source : brownsvilleherald

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