Umbilical cord: conservation and donation? Here's why to do it
You may not have known that, but both conservation and donation are possible for the umbilical cord. It is a wise choice, because donating the blood contained in the umbilical cord can represent a life expectancy for many people. But how is the umbilical cord donated and stored? What is it for, and why should you think about it? Find out all by reading this article ...
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The value and importance of the umbilical cord
The umbilical cord is an alternative source of homopoietic stem cells, which are an effective cure against numerous blood diseases such as leukemia, lymphomas, thalassemias, immunodeficiencies and metabolic defects. Until recently, medicine has mainly relied on bone marrow transplantation, but finding compatible donors is not easy so researchers have looked for alternative solutions. The umbilical cord has proved to be a precious substitute, as it has a greater degree of "stemness" than the marrow: in other words, the blood is able to give rise to various cell types that have a greater ability to replicate. This feature is essential, since stem cell transplantation serves to restore the production of white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets.
How does the donation take place?
The donation is a simple procedure that does not involve risks for either the mother or the child. In fact, placental blood sampling is carried out with a severed cord in any hospital. With a small injection, the blood left in the umbilical cord and placenta is drawn, which is then collected in a sterile bag. To be usable, the sample must be at least 60 milliliters. The sample is then sent to a collection bank to be analyzed and checked. If deemed suitable, the blood is frozen in liquid nitrogen at -196 °, where it can be stored for many years pending a request from the transplant center. The donor mother must also undergo checks through two simple blood tests, one before the birth and one six months later, to ensure that she is not a carrier of infectious diseases and that she does not suffer from anemia or hereditary diseases.
Umbilical cord: conservation and collection banks
To evaluate, store and make blood samples available to the community, several public collection banks have been created. Unfortunately, there is a significant difference between the number of donations made and the number of samples stored, because not all samples contain a sufficient number of stem cells. The collection banks record data in a worldwide database that allows you to identify compatible donors, so the more donations are made, the higher the probability of guaranteeing patients a cure. Currently there are 500,000 samples stored, but immunogenetics experts hope that this number will double or triple, so that at least an 80 percent chance of finding a compatible donation for all patients can be ensured. Thanks to the huge resources allocated by the policy Italian health care, our country can boast a network of 19 public banks, coordinated by the National Blood Center, in cooperation with the National Transplant Center - an important number if you consider that there are a total of 50 collection banks in the world.
Keep for yourself or donate?
New mothers can choose to donate umbilical cord blood or keep it for themselves at a private bank, assuming that in the future protocols will be developed that allow them to treat themselves with their own stem cells, through the so-called autologous transplant. . Freedom of choice about what to do is important, but the value of solidarity should not be underestimated. As Umberto Veronesi argued: "If you increase the number of donations to other people, you create a virtuous circle whereby anyone in need could always find stem cells available". However, there is the case of dedicated sampling, that is, a conservation of stem cells designed specifically to treat pathologies present in the family of the unborn child and of the new mother. The Ministry of Health provides for a dedicated withdrawal at no additional cost.
