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Cord Blood And Disease Treatment

List Of Diseases Now Treated With Umbilical Cord Blood Stem Cells

Apr 26, 2007

Umbilical cord blood is easy to harvest. The stem cells found in this blood can now be used to treat over 40 diseases. This article includes a list of those diseases.

Umbilical Cord Blood Collection

Cord blood is valuable. Stem cells found in this blood are the building blocks of the blood and immune systems. Cord blood stem cells (and bone marrow stem cells) do not attract the controversy of stem cells collected from a developing embryo, because they can be harvested without harm to the donor. Cord blood collection can save lives and treat disease even now with over 40 diseases taking advantage of stem cells taken from umbilical cord blood. The list of treatable diseases is increasing all the time with medical researchers finding new uses all the time.

Who Can Umbilical Cord Blood Help?

A newborn’s cord blood is a source of stem cells that can be used to treat disease in the donor and the newborn and has a high likelihood of being compatible with siblings as well. Clinical studies have shown that stem cell transplants are more successful when the stem cells come from a family member rather than from a stem cell bank.

At present stem cells are used to treat disease such as genetic diseases, immune system diseases, cancers and blood disorders.

The list of treatable diseases is always increasing and all the future uses of umbilical cord blood stem cells have not yet been identified.

List Of Diseases and Disorders That Can Now Be Treated (not necessarily cured) By Using Umbilical Cord Blood Stem Cells.

Bone Marrow Disorders

Amegakaryocytic thrombocytopenia
Aplastic anaemia (severe)
Diamond-Blackfan anaemia
Dyskeratosis congenita
Fanconi anaemia
Kostmann's syndrome

Immune System Disorders

Leukocyte adhesion deficiency
Omenn's syndrome
Reticular dysplasia
Severe combined immune deficiency
Thymic dysplasia
Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome
X-linked lymphoproliferative disease

Blood Disorders

Sickle-cell anaemia
Cooley's anaemia

Cancers

Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia
Acute myelogenous leukaemia
Burkitt's lymphoma
Chronic myelogenous leukaemia
Hodgkin's lymphoma
Juvenile chronic myelogenous leukaemia
Juvenile myelomonocytic leukaemia
Liposarcoma
Myelodysplastic syndrome
Neuroblastoma
Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma

Metabolic Conditions

Adrenoleukodystrophy
Batten disease
Gunther disease
Hunter syndrome
Hurler syndrome
Krabbe disease
Lesch-Nyhan disease
Maroteaux-Lamy syndrome

Other Diseases

Evans syndrome
Hemaphagocytic lymphohistiocytosis
Langerhan's cell histiocytosis
Osteopetrosis

The collection and storage of cord blood is a simple and painless procedure. The possibility that the collected blood is useful in helping either you or a family member is increasing every day. It is anticipated that within the next five to ten years that stem cell therapies will be able to treat an enormous range of diseases including heart disease, stroke and arthritis.

The decision to harvest umbilical cord blood for its stem cells is becoming a more and more routine procedure. In fact doctors and obstetricians can now provide a great deal of information to their patients. It was not so many years ago that collecting cord blood was seen as unusual. It is now far more common and in the future it may well be more unusual to say no to collection.

The copyright of the article Cord Blood And Disease Treatment in Pregnancy & Childbirth is owned by Philippa Rowlands. Permission to republish Cord Blood And Disease Treatment in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.