Cord Blood Banking101
Cord blood banking is the safe and painless process of collecting and storing the remaining blood in your newborn’s umbilical cord after the medical provider clamps the cord. Americord cryo-preserves all stored blood until such a time that your child may need it.
The blood that remains in the umbilical cord after it is clamped, cord blood, is rich with hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) that can be used for an ever-expanding number of medical treatments. This is why we decided to start a cord blood bank.
HSCs are so valuable because these cells have the ability to become any type of blood cell or blood component in the human body. These versatile cells are the same type of cells that have been used since the 1970s in bone marrow transplants. Today, they are approved by the FDA to treat more than 80 serious medical conditions.
Americord is also a pioneer of cord tissue and placental tissue banking. These tissues are a valuable source of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) that can differentiate into many other types of cells in the body, including organ, muscle, skin, bone, cartilage, and fat cells. These cells are the subject of hundreds of exciting clinical trials worldwide to discover treatment opportunities for a host of different medical conditions, potentially revolutionizing medical practice.
Banking cord blood and cord or placental tissue is much like an insurance policy, an investment in your family’s future. We hope you never have a need for these stored stem cells, but if one should ever arise, we hope you will be relieved that you banked them with us for safekeeping.