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Banking

Cystic fibrosis patients find new hope through umbilical cord stem cells banking

A recent study by Faculty of Medicine department of Melbourne has found that now umbilical cord stem cells can also treat the patients suffering from cystic fibrosis (CF). A Couple of Tauranga (New Zealand) James Barr and Katrina Barr have stored the blood of their second baby to cure their first child Alexis who is suffering from cystic fibrosis. The cure would allow their daughter to breathe easily and that would mean a new life for their daughter.  Genetics professor Bob Williamson said that a child sibling suffering from cystic fibrosis was found to be an ideal match for this.

Generally cord blood of the siblings is known to have one in four chances to be a perfect match so that it would not get rejected by the child’s immune system that is having this disease. The CordBank is the first and only provider of the cord blood stem cell banking of New Zealand. It has started providing its services to Kiwi families and their children suffering from this disease. The process of cord banking involves blood collection from the umbilical cord of new born soon after its birth. The mother suffers no pain and there is no risk associated.

The disease of cystic fibrosis is common but one that is inherited. Under this a child is born with a defective gene that causes mucus in the lungs. It results into lethal infections. On an average a person suffering from this disease has life expectancy of around 30 years. Once the treatment passes the clinical testing and the treatment is developed, the study will benefit a large number of kiwi people. However, there are very rare chances when a person needs the treatment from the stem cells.

The family did banking of cord blood stem cells of their second baby not just only to cure Alexis but also for their second child. It was done with the association of Melbourne University, Cure Kids and Cystic Fibrosis Association. Next are some basic questions that one would like to know about the cord blood banking.

Ø  Cord blood – It is the remaining blood in the umbilical cord and placenta after the birth of the child. It is being used today for cord blood transplantation for repairing damaged tissues.

Ø  Collection time -The right time for the collection of cord blood is right after birth.

Ø  Storage for how long- It is stored till the time the kid turns 18.

Ø  Why storage- The next question that most of the people ask is why they should go for the umbilical cord storage. It is because as the blood is an exact match for the child it can be used for the treatment of some severe diseases like cerebral palsy, cancer and diabetes of type 1. The umbilical cord blood is also free of viruses.

Ø  Where to store it- It is stored in special banks either public or private. One can also ask a hospital during the delivery as they already have connections with the banks. One can search online to find the banks close to their location.

Donation of cord blood is great work for which everyone should contribute.

This article is written by Jackson daren this is having topics on cord blood stem cell banking, cord blood stem cells, umbilical cord storage and many more. For more: http://cryocell.blog.com/

Banking

New treatment for young cerebral palsy patients using baby cord blood banking

The world is fully aware about the role played by the umbilical cord stem cells in treatment of various diseases. Recently Australian researchers came to know about one more revolutionary treatment of the umbilical cord blood. Researchers of Melbourne medical center told that now Australasian children suffering from cerebral palsy would be able to get treatment through cord blood. The scientists are engaged to get an approval for a clinical trial at Monash Medical Centre of Melbourne. Once they would get an ethical approval, scientists would engage themselves to do trial on twenty children.

The main objective behind conducting the research is to confirm whether cord stem cells are effective in repairing the damage of brain tissue or cerebral palsy. North Carolina’s University of Duke Professor Joanne Kurtzberg is busy with research in this particular field for last five years. Professor Kurtzberg has been infusing cord blood with cerebral palsy of about two hundred and fifty children over this time duration. There is no published scientific detail for the effectiveness of treatment.  However, the researchers of Australia are highly involved in understanding the impact on children’s brain suffering from cerebral palsy. Kurtzberg said that this treatment is completely safe and feasible for such patients.

Recently parents from Brisbane, Archer family travelled to America for the treatment of their son suffering from epilepsy and cerebral palsy. The cord blood transplant was done four months earlier and their son has shown an improvement to a large extent. The significance of cord blood comes to light as the blood found in placenta or baby cord is always rich in large amount of stem cells. The stem cells further develop into other types of cells in human body. According to the obstetrics Health Director Professor Euan Wallace told that several animal studies have suggested that the stem cells found in cord blood show effective treatment for the repair and assistance of different brain injuries .

According to a theory, these stem cells go to the injured region of the brain and start generating cells out there for the repair. However, scientists are not sure what the exact phenomenon is.  All the children under trial will be soon be provided with the blood and complete neurological assessment. They would be then randomly invoked with the cord blood either straight away or three months before they would be assessed again. The cord blood taken from baby cord blood banking has shown numerous benefits like treatment of blood disorders and also in regeneration of lost appendages or damaged organs.

The under trial children might receive the cord blood either from the private or public bank. Mark Kirkland Medical Director and Associate Professor of Cell care center, a private cord blood bank says that the trial is one of its first kind which is being done for the assessment of effectiveness of cord blood stem cells against a number of diseases. After continuous research for several years now it has been proved that cord blood shows bundle of therapies against several fatal diseases. These include treatment for diabetes, spinal cord injury, liver, heart disease, Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer disease. Now, there would be one more addition to the success of this trial that is of repairing of brain disease.

This article is written by Jackson daren this is having topics on cord blood transplant, baby cord blood banking, cord blood stem cells and many more. For more: http://cryocell.blog.com/