Placental blood

In intrauterine life, the placenta is the organ where the nutrients and oxygen from the mother towards the fetus are transferred, providing the necessary support for its growth and development.
Immediately after the child delivery and the umbilical cord cutting, by piercing the spiral umbilical vein, placental blood sampling is possible. The amount of blood available for collection is the amount of blood remaining in the placenta and umbilical cord, after the last emissions of blood from mother towards child took place. It varies very broadly (20 ml to 100/150 ml) and it is strictly dependent only on the dynamics of the delivery.
Placental blood is a valuable source of stem cells, the delivery being the only moment when it can be collected. In case placental blood is not harvested, it will be destroyed with umbilical cord and placenta, as they are classically considered to be “pregnancy waste".

The experience of over 20 years and over 10,000 transplant cases so far with transplanted placental blood grafts, confirm its therapeutic value.

The advantages of harvesting and storing a cord blood graft:

1. The harvesting procedure is  simple, painless, without risk to the mother or fetus
2. The rapid availability of the graft (< 1 month), important for the decrease of morbidity and mortality associated with transplantation, especially in case of acute leukemia. Graft storage in conditions of cryopreservation, ensures maintenance of cell viability indefinitely while it is available at any time during life.
3.The possibility of using the graft in an autologous transplant (for the child at the birth of whose harvesting was made) or related allogeneic (for another family member, immunologically compatible)
4. Lower risk of transmitting infections by latent viruses (e.g. risk of transmission of the CMV infection (cytomegalovirus) of 1% in cord blood versus 40-60% in the case of bone marrow transplantation from adult donors; risk of transmission of infection with Epstein Barr 0 virus for cord blood )
5. The absence of the risk of disqualification of the potential donor from public / family records, by identifying some infections and various diseases undiagnosed previously, or by the refuse of the donor.
6. Distinct immunological peculiarities of umbilical hematopoietic stem cells, derived from cellular immaturity, with importance in determining the number of immunological compatibility criteria (a smaller number of criteria) and from the incidence of posttransplant allogeneic immunological complications (complications with lower incidence and severity).
7. The absence of the risk of damage of hematopoietic stem cells, following exposure during life to various environmental factors (eg, radiations, infections, malignancy).