What is the umbilical blood and why it to keep?

Recently service in collecting and storage of stem cells of an umbilical blood causes the increasing and big interest of scientists, doctors and, certainly, future parents. The last, as a rule, have a little truthful information about similar service which became available in Ukraine about five years ago. Let's try to understand: what is the umbilical blood and why it to keep.

By science it is proved that each kid is born with additional immunity on an illness case. It is a small amount of blood which remains in placenta vessels after umbilical cord cutting. Each milliliter of an umbilical blood — worth its weight in gold, after all this blood is improbably rich with invaluable stem cells.

About stem cells even the people who are very far from medicine already heard. But such information can be not absolutely correct. After all quite often mass media, wishing to draw of attention of readers, modifies medical value and experience of application of stem cells. So such stem cells and why physicians of the whole world advise to future parents them to keep?

Stem cells — it is an organism fundamental principle — the first and universal cages with which life of each of us began. They turn into any specialized cages in an organism — cells of a liver, heart, skin... From these cages in vitro it is possible to grow up practically any body.

Opening of properties of stem cells became the real revolution in medicine, having based a new era of «cellular medicine».

Today, with use of stem cells, new approaches to treatment of AIDS, a cancer, Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's illness, a myocardial infarction, a stroke and many other are developed. And existing already more than 20 years a technique of transplantation of a marrow (recognized «a gold standard» in treatment of many forms of leukoses) no other than intravenous introduction of krovetvorny stem cells.

The most widespread source of stem cells is the marrow, however its clinical use is connected with considerable difficulties. It, first of all, complexity of search of the compatible donor. Time necessary for this purpose, is sometimes measured for years whereas for the patient each hour matters. The second complexity is high cost of a sample of a marrow — about 40 000 euros.

Fortunately, scientists found out that the umbilical blood, as well as a marrow, contains stem cells, and in much bigger quantity and considerably the best quality. So today funic the shelter gains ground in treatment of a serious illness as alternative to a marrow, and behind official data rescued already about 15 000 lives.

Therefore in the developed countries of the world already more than 20 years ago were created and now banks of an umbilical blood successfully function, and storage of an umbilical blood of the newborns became for parents of these countries the same habitual business, as for us a payment for a garden, school or institute.

Modern technologies allow to keep in the conditions of ultralow temperatures stem cells infinitely long without loss of their properties, and, on a case, successfully to use them for the medical purposes.