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Cord Blood and Its Role in Medicine

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Unlike in the past, today cord blood stems cells are used to treat about 80 diseases such as genetic diseases, a broad array of cancers, as well as blood disorders. During a cord blood transplant, stem cells are injected into the bloodstream of the patient with the aim of healing and repair damaged tissues and cells. A successful transplant allow for a health new immune system that has been made.

  1. Cord blood transplant eligibility

There has been a lot of discussion about who is compatible for the cord blood cells treatment, is it the sibling or the baby whose umbilical cord blood was extracted from? The answer to this question is precise. Both the sibling and the baby can use the umbilical cord blood. However, this depends on the kind of diseases that is treated.

Also, it is up to the healthcare provider to decide if it is necessary or not. Most of the diseases on the list are usually inherited genetic diseases. Generally, these treatments need a donor transplant from a family member. As a matter of fact, studies have indicated that treatments using umbilical blood from a sibling is high effective as compared to treatments from non-relative individual. Up to date, out of more than 350 families that have been through the treatment, 56 percent were for transplant.

  1. Cord blood storage

When you bank your infant’s umbilical cord blood, your child can have access to the cells that are the exact genetic match. Certain cancers such as neuroblastoma are simply autologous treatments. At the moment, there are regenerative medicine clinical tests that use the infant’s own stem cells for conditions such as cerebral palsy and autism.

Out of more than 300 families that have benefited from the umbilical cord blood, 44 percent were for the medicine research. The umbilical cord blood has been used to treat so many diseases, and the number is set to increase in the near future, according to researchers. Some of the diseases that the cord blood stem cells can treat include cancers, blood disorders, bone marrow failure syndromes, metabolic disorders, immunodeficiency and so much more.

  1. Regenerative medicine

This is the therapeutic potential of the umbilical cord blood to continue to grow. In the last few years, umbilical cord blood use has continued to expand into one specific areas referred to as Regenerative Medicine, which is also known as Regen Med. Regenerative Medicine is a science that uses living cells to potentially facilitate or regenerate the repair of cells that have been destroyed by injury, genetics, diseases, or simply aging.

At the moment, there are numerous studies done with the hope that the umbilical cord blood stem cells will benefits millions of young patients that are facing difficult and life-threatening medical conditions such as cerebral palsy and autism. Therefore, there is still hope for people who have medical conditions that are hard to treat, especially those who suffer from genetically related medical conditions.

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