The umbilical cord is commonly known as the birth cord or the funiculus umbilicalis. This cord connects the developing embryo to the placenta. It is the umbilical cord, which supplies oxygen, nutrient rich blood to the fetus from the placenta. The cord is generally 50 cms long and 2cms in diameter. The blood in the umbilical cord is rich in stem cells. The importance of stem cells is that it regenerates the white blood cells. Hence, this blood is useful for several diseases. Mainly it is used bone marrow transplantation. The blood in the umbilical cord is rich in white blood cells and it renews the cell. Hence few recent researches have shown that if this blood can be preserved then it may be utilizes at a larger scale later. Just because the cord blood has proved to be fatal for diseases, the concept to preserve it has also come in the minds of the scientists. Cord blood stem banking is very important for the future generation. One can preserve the cord blood mainly for two reasons. One, they can donate it and anyone can use the blood to cure their diseases. The other is that one can donate it and preserve it for his/her future use. In this case the same can be used by any of the family members too. If you are interested to preserve the blood for personal use then the blood will be preserved in a private bank. Further, if you are interested to donate the blood then it will preserve in a public bank. There are two types of Cord Blood stem cell bank; private and public. The public banks are supported by the medical communities. The public banks charge a fee to preserve the cord bank as it keeps the exact link of the blood. Parents require informing the health care on the 34th week of the pregnancy that they are interested to preserve the cord blood. The collection takes place in a painless way. Once the blood is collected, it is tested. Once the test is done various chemical are used to preserve the blood. The cord blood is used to cure various diseases like Parkinson’s diseases, Schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s diseases, Cancer, Spinal Cord injury, diabetes and many more. Cord blood stem banking has to follow protocol to preserve the cord blood. Recent researches have shown that blood rich in stem cells should be preserved in order to cure fatal diseases. Hence, the coming days many blood banks to preserve the blood is yet to come up. Few debates are there to use the cord blood too. Some ethical groups object using the cord blood as they say that it is destruction of human embryo. But the cord blood helps in saving millions of lives. The blood rich in stem cells help to generate new blood cells once it is injected to the patient. Just as the cord blood cells are so useful it is advised to all parents to preserve the cord blood in a bank for future use.
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