Cord Blood Storage

Once the baby has been delivered, the umbilical cord is clamped and the cord blood is collected. This can happen before or after the placenta is delivered, but generally before. The process of collecting the blood is done using a kit that the cord blood bank provides ahead of time.

The blood is then stored in bags or syringes (this varies by cord blood bank, both ways are equally acceptable), and then transported by medical courier to the blood bank.

The stem cells are separated from the rest of the cord blood and stored cryogenically in liquid nitrogen freezers.

If the stem cells are ever needed, they are thawed and can be used in autlogous (when a person needs his own cord blood stem cells for a transplant) or allogenic procedures (which a person need receives it from another person, whether a family member or a donor).

Cord blood stem cells are stored in cord blood banks, which can be either private or public. Private banks allow the child and his or her family to preserve the stem cells should they ever need them for any reason. Public banks are more like traditional blood banks, and donating cord blood to these should be thought of more like donating blood to help the general public.