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New Life Can Bring New Hope Through Umbilical Cord Blood
By Jim Ritter
Chicago Sun-Times
06 June 2005
Newborn Sofia Hogue was just a few minutes old when she performed her first good deed:
With her mother's permission, Sofia donated her umbilical cord blood, which some day might save a life.
Donated cord blood is used in stem cell transplants for patients with leukemia, immune system disorders and other life-threatening diseases.
The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed and sent to the Senate legislation to add 150,000 units to the nation's cord blood banks, which now store about 40,000 units. The vote was 431-1. Each unit contains cord blood from one newborn. The more units in the nation's cord blood banks, the greater the chance a patient will find a match.
The local cord blood bank, Glenview-based ITXM Cord Blood Services, collects donations from 47 Chicago area hospitals. In response to the cord blood legislation, ITXM plans to triple its collections to about 300 units per month.
Each year, thousands of patients receive high-dose chemotherapy or radiation. Such treatments can cure deadly or debilitating diseases but in the process destroy a patient's stem cells.
Stem cells are immature cells that mature into blood cells. After chemotherapy or radiation, a patient receives an infusion of replacement stem cells from a matching donor.
So far, most donated stem cells have been obtained from the blood or bone marrow of adult donors. More than 5 million Americans have registered as potential donors with the National Marrow Donor Program www.marrow.org
A relatively new source of stem cells is cord blood, which offers certain medical advantages. However, an umbilical cord holds only three to five ounces of blood. Consequently, cord blood transplants are used more often in children and small adults, who need fewer cells.
There have been about 1,000 cord blood transplants to date, with a potential for thousands more.
When a mother decides to donate her baby's cord blood, she calls the cord blood bank during her pregnancy. About a month before the due date, the blood bank sends a collection kit, which the mother brings to the hospital.
Painless, poses no risk
After the baby is born, the umbilical cord is clamped. Blood remaining in the cord and placenta is drained from the mother's side and sent to the cord blood bank, where it's stored at minus 320 degrees. The collection is free and painless and poses no risk to the mother or baby. If not collected, cord blood is discarded as part of the afterbirth.
It's possible a baby donor could later get sick and receive a perfectly matching cord blood transplant from his or her own stored blood. But there's no guarantee the cord blood would still be available, since it would be donated to the first matching patient who needs it.
Baby Sofia, who was born March 6, donated her cord blood at Prentice Women's Hospital.
"It was so easy," said Sofia's mom, Amy Melnicsak.
For more information call (877) 448-2673.
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