Collection
Banking your cord blood is painless and safe for both mother and baby. It involves a simple, safe and effective procedure that your doctor performs right after the delivery of your baby. You bring your collection kit to the hospital with you. Once the baby is delivered the umbilical cord is cut the collection kit gives your ob all the materials needed to collect the blood right from the cut umbilical cord.
The processing and cord blood storage need to be done by a licensed and accredited lab. The processing and cord blood storage should exceed FDA cord blood requirements using Good Manufacturing Practice standards (cGMP) This means that your baby’s cord will not only be viable for currently therapies, but will meet the standards of futures therapies that are being developed today.
Transportation
A specialized medical courier transports your baby’s cord blood to the processing facility under time and temperature guidelines. Once the cord blood is collected you simply call the 24 hour - toll free number and a specialized medical courier transports your baby’s cord blood to an AABB accredited lab facility, the lab should also be registered with the FDA to serve as a cord blood bank, Operate under cGMP standards, and be state licensed.
Processing
Each sample of umbilical cord blood cells is scrutinized to detect viral and bacterial infections, quantity and workability of stem cells before they are stored for future use. Gather facts that ensure that the cord blood bank you have chosen to preserve your child’s cord blood, boasts of a well-organized procedure for cord blood collection, processing and preservation.
Storage
Your baby’s umbilical cord blood is then transferred to long-term storage in liquid nitrogen tanks at regulated temperatures. These tanks are equipped with a 24-hour monitored alarm device along with a backup system meeting regulatory standards. All specimens have unique identification codes and assigned inventory locations in the tanks for easy identification and retrieval.