Cord Blood And Disease Treatment
List Of Diseases Now Treated With Umbilical Cord Blood Stem Cells
Apr 26, 2007
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.
