Why is cord blood so talked about?

Is there an advantage to using it?

Increasingly over the last 10 years, the collection of umbilical cord blood for treating serious medical conditions such as leukaemia has become more and more well known.

But this new medical breakthrough has many aspects to it.

Cord blood banking for example can be used as a private matter to store cord blood for future use for the individual.

But cord blood donation is similar to bone marrow donation in that it is for use by any other person in need of a bone marrow transplantation.

The effectiveness of cord blood cells is even still being studied to see if it is any more effective than traditional bone marrow transplants.

Let's have a look at the issue of the advantages of cord blood transplants over one marrow transplants as a therapy for medical conditions.

The advantages of cord blood are these:

The cord blood transplant for the child from whom the blood has come from will be a perfect match. A perfect match is an advantage as it lessens the chance of rejection.

Cord blood is stored in cold storage and can be used as soon as it's needed. This is in contrast to waiting weeks or months to find a suitable adult bone marrow donor. In fact it is estimated that over 50% of people in the US who require a bone marrow transplant fail to find a suitable donor.

The process of collecting cord blood is relatively easily and simple. In contrast, bone marrow donation is invasive and painful.

So there you have it, you have now an introduction to cord blood and it's various issues.

For more information see www.parentscordblood.com for news and articles on cord blood.

It's a medical area that's expanding day by day.

Not every city has cord blood banks, but government interest in it is rising and there are plans to increase funding to support this new medical area.

No doubt this will increase as the benefits of cord blood banking becomes more well known.