There are lots of recent advancement in the treatment modalities of genetic diseases and cancers. One of them is the use of stem cells from Umbilical cord blood.

Umbilical cord is an attachment between mother’s placenta and baby’s umbilicus which is cut after the baby is delivered. But its found that the blood contained in umbilical cord is rich in hemopoietic stems cells. These stem cells can be used for allogenic or autologus stem-cell transplantation for the treatment of over 35 dreadly diseases.

Some of the disorders which can be treated are :

• Cancers – Leukemia ( AML, CML ), Lymphoma (both Hodgkin and Non-Hodgkin)
• Anemia – Sickle cell , Aplastic and Fanconi anemia, ß-Thalassemia etc.
• Inborn errors of metabolism – Gunter disease, Batten disease, Krabbe disease, Hunter and hurler syndrome
• Immunodeficiencies – SCID, Thymic dysplasia

Looking at all these advantages, the cord blood storage is done now after the delivery of the baby and stored in Private and Public cord blood banks. There are 2 ways to collect cord blood. But the parents are required to pay a nominal yearly fee to store their baby’s cord blood in cord blood banks.