Cord Blood Banking FAQs

Parents Eye Technology to Treat Blood Diseases

More parents are choosing to drain and store stem cell-rich blood from their babies' umbilical cords and placentas at birth hoping to increase treatment options if the child later is stricken with a blood disease. San Bruno, Calif.-based Cord Blood Register, which operates the nation's largest private cord-blood bank, launched operations more than a decade ago when few knew of cord blood's potential health benefits. Today, the company has about 500,000 blood packets at its nondescript, 80,000-square-foot building near the Tucson, Ariz., airport. Click here to read the rest of the article

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Cord-blood Bank Expands Exposure

Arizona parents now must address another question at birth: whether to save, store or discard their baby's umbilical cord blood. More parents are choosing to drain and store stem cell-rich blood from the umbilical cord and placenta at birth. Blood storage has become a boon industry for private companies such as Cord Blood Registry, which operates the nation's largest private cord-blood bank in Tucson. CBR launched operations more than a decade ago when few knew of cord blood's potential health benefits. Today, the company has about 500,000 blood packets at a nondescript, 80,000-square-foot building off Interstate 10 near the Tucson airport. And the company expects to collect even more blood, thanks in part to aggressive marketing and new state laws that require doctors to inform parents about the process at or before birth. "There are 4 million births in the U.S. alone, and about 3.8 million (cord-blood units) are thrown in the trash after birth. It is simply discarded as medical waste," said Tom Moore, CBR founder and CEO. Click here to read the rest of the article

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7 Tips: Cord Blood Banking - Peter Wallander

Are you pregnant? If you are, then you have undoubtedly seen advertisements for banking your babies cord blood. Cord blood banking has become a hot topic with parents-to-be recently. The reason is simple; the companies that store the cord blood tout the advantages to saving this once in a lifetime supply of stem cells. While the benefits of saving the cord blood from your newborn could be numerous, there are some things that should be taken into consideration. This article will help to provide you with a place to start on your journey for more information. Click here to read the rest of the article

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Don't Junk That Umbilical Cord

(This is an old article from Wired Magazine about cord blood)

A new study has found that blood from a newborn's umbilical cord can rebuild a healthy blood supply in adults with leukemia and other fatal blood diseases.

Researchers at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland say the technique works even if the donor and recipient are not a perfect match, which is required for a bone marrow transplant. They also say the technique is safer than a bone marrow transplant from a donor that matches the patient but is from a different family. Click here for the rest of the article

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