When a pregnant lady in US was first told that she might be suffering from multiple sclerosis, she immediately paid heed to a suggestion from her obstetrician that saving the umbilical cord blood from her baby in a cord blood bank might be a good idea. It might well turn out to be a smart move on her part because the cord blood rich in stem cells might well turn out to be a biological insurance policy for her child. It gives her (and countless mothers like her) a sense of security, says she. Similarly, the concept of cord blood banking has been gaining strength all over the world, including India.

United States has an increasing number of people who opt to bank that blood  in the cord blood storage companies by spending their own money, so that their family may use the same in case of a probable medical emergency. In this particular case, even if the child doesn’t need the cord blood, the lady may still benefit from its banking if ever a cure for her multiple sclerosis condition may be found in the future.

Cord blood is known to be rich in stem cells, which have the ability to change into any body tissue type and replicate within the body. The cord blood stem cells stored in the cord blood stem cell banks have so far been used to treat blood disorders and even cancer. More than anything else, it is the potential of the stem cells in the regenerative medicine that has the people in the medical fraternity most excited.

Now, the researchers are looking for new methods to grow different types of tissues so that diseases affecting the brain and the spinal cord, many kinds of strokes, diabetes and many other serious ailments can also be treated using stem cell therapy. This potential alone is making many companies spend billions of dollars in research whereas people are spending money to save the cord blood of their children. It is considered to be a powerful treatment resource.  Big names such as Spain’s Princess Letizia and her husband, Crown Prince Felipe de Bourbon, also announced that they have stored the cord blood cells of their young daughters.

The research into the stem cells procured from cord blood still has a long way to go, but the medical fraternity argues that there is only one chance to preserve the cord blood of the child, and that’s during the time of birth. New treatments may just be discovered over the next 5-10 years, and you must make sure that your child’s cord blood stem cells are there for such treatments.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009 at 6:23 pm and is filed under About Stem Cells & Cord Blood Banking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.