Umbilical Cord blood, commonly called ‘cord blood’ is the blood that remains in the umbilical cord and placenta following birth of your baby. The umbilical cord is routinely discarded with the placenta and umbilical cord. Your baby's umbilical cord blood is a loaded with stem cells, which are genetically unique to your baby and family.

The cord tissue is the tissue constituting the umbilical cord after removal of the cord blood.

Stem cells are the "master" cells of the body. They are undifferentiated, "blank" cells that do not yet have a specific function. Characteristically, stem cells have a high capacity for self-renewal and can regenerate and turn into the cells that form all types of tissues, organs and systems in the human body. They have the ability to replace or repair damaged cells throughout the body.

The stem cells found in cord blood are “Hematopoietic stem cells” which are the building blocks of your baby’s blood and immune system and most readily replicate into:

Red Blood Cells - which carry oxygen to all the cells in the body
White Blood Cells - which fight infection
Platelets - which aid in clotting in the event of injury.

The ability of cord blood stem cells to differentiate or change into other types of cells in the body is a new discovery that holds significant promise for improving the treatment of some of the most critical diseases like leukemia, thalassemia, juvenile diabetes, cerebral palsy etc.,

Cord blood stem cells have the potency to treat over 75 serious ailments. With advancing research and clinical trials worldwide every day hold a promise for a new disease to be treated using cord blood stem cells. The below link below provides the complete list of diseases that could be treated using cord blood stem cells.

Your baby's cord tissue is a valuable source of stem cells that could differentiate into various types of tissues like heart cell, muscle cell etc., and be used to treat many lifestyle and tissue degenerative diseases and medical conditions. The umbilical cord tissue stem cells are “Mesenchymal stem cells” which have been found to have the potency to treat tissue / organ related ailments like diabetes, heart ailments, osteophorosis etc.,

It is important to preserve both the cord blood & cord tissue stem cells to ensure that your child gets a complete cover from most of the ailments what the future may promise

There are three major sources where stem cells are commonly found, they are:

Stem cells are widely used through a procedure called “stem cell transplantation” to regenerate a patient's blood and immune system and tissues

Umbilical cord is one of the "richest” source of stem cells where stem cells are found in abundance since these cells are generated during the process of a baby being. If these stem cells are collected and preserved it prevents aging to the cells and carry a much higher potency than adult stem cells, such as those found in bone marrow. Adult stem cells serve very specialized roles in children and adults and are not as proliferative as those found in cord blood.

HLA matching refers to six proteins called Human Leukocyte Antigens (HLA) that appear on the surface of white blood cells and other tissues in the body. These six HLA points, determine tissue compatibility between the recipient patient and the donor. Although a perfect match would be best, studies have shown that cord blood transplants are successful, even when only three of the six HLA parameters match.

GVHD is one of the most common and life threatening side effects of a stem cell/bone marrow transplant. GVHD occurs when the transplanted stem cells recognize the recipient's body as foreign, and "reject" it. Cord blood transplants have reduced risk of GVHD since the stem cells from the donor do not need to match the recipient as closely as with bone marrow.

Thousands of families have secured their child’s future by preserving their umbilical cord blood and cord tissue stem cells with LifeCell – India’s largest stem cell bank and stem cells solutions provider. They see the current and future potential of stem cells to treat many ailments and have opted to preserve this biological resource.

Once-in-a-Lifetime Opportunity - Only at Birth

Preserving umbilical cord stem cells is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to secure the future health of the baby. Many expectant parents are now preserving their baby’s umbilical cord stem cells as a responsibility to their children having realized the benefits of umbilical cord stem cells as a potential life-saving resource which may someday offer a treatment solution to their children, themselves or other family members.

Future potential

Advancing research has endorsed the unique suitability of cord blood stem cells for a number of developing technologies. Clinical studies across various specialties are enthusiastic about the potential use of cord blood stem cells in treating various ailments at cellular level. When you bank your baby's cord blood stem cells, you are saving what may be a key component to potential future medical treatments and cures.

Treating diseases of family history

Umbilical cord stem cell banking is the only choice if you or your spouse have a family history of a disease that is treatable with stem cells, such as leukemia, lymphoma, or myeloma. Moreover it is also important to note that for many cancers and critical diseases, the causes are unknown and they can occur subsequent to birth even when there is no family history of the disease.

Availability of stem cells when needed

When a disease strikes it may land in a great difficulty of finding stem cell donors when needed. Many genetic diseases such as sickle cell anemia and thalassemia are more common in certain ethnic populations. Both of these diseases have been successfully treated with stem cells from cord blood not only for the baby whose stem cells are preserved but also siblings.

In Vitro Pregnancies

Parents choosing fertility treatments for birth of bay know the value of have increasingly banking the baby’s stem cells since they know the fact of not having another opportunity to secure a genetically related sample for their child.

Each child is genetically unique and so is that child's cord blood stem cell sample. Though siblings have the potential of 50% match it is advisable to preserve the cord stem cells of each of their children to ensure that an exact genetic match is available. This also increases the likelihood of a useful match between family members.

Yes. In the case of identical twins, it is recommended that cord stem cells of both the babies are preserved to save as many stem cells as possible. It is observed that sometimes the collection volume per baby in multiple births is smaller, so collecting cord blood from both babies helps ensure an adequate stem cell yield for transplantation if ever needed. However, each child's cord blood is banked separately even in the case of identical twins.

No. Proximity of the stem cell bank to your residence is not at all an essential criterion. The storage of stem cells under stipulated guidelines & standards, safety and viability of your baby's stem cells are far more important. The most important aspect is to ensure that your baby's umbilical cord blood and cord tissue are properly handled during collection and transportation to the laboratory. Another important aspect is to ensure that collection yields the greatest number of stem cells possible.

The concept of umbilical cord stem cell banking has been in practice for 17 years now. Cryo-Cell Interntional is the world’s first and America’s most popular & preferred cord blood stem cell who have over 175,000 samples stored at their facility. LifeCell has an exclusive technology partnership with Cryo-Cell to offer world-class stem cell preservation services in India and neighboring countries.

You need to enroll for preserving your baby’s umbilical cord stem cells ideally a few months in advance before the expected delivery date to enable us to complete the formalities and provide you the cord blood & cord tissue collection kit well ahead of your delivery date.

You can contact LifeCell through our 24x7x365 Toll free or Helpline nos. and our executives will assist you through the process of enrolment. The process is very simple and you can enroll over the phone. You can also make payment through easy and simple modalities like pay online, cheque/DD, ECS as preferred by you.

It is better to get yourselves enrolled well in advance to complete the formalities and take possession of the collection kit box. However in circumstances warrants that you are unable to register in advance, we are well-equipped to take care of your enrolment & umbilical cord collection in the final moments as well (subject to location and operational feasibility).

Once you enroll with LifeCell, you need to inform you doctor about your decision to preserve your baby’s stem cells with us. Subsequently you would receive a cord blood and cord tissue collection kit from us. Upon receipt of the kit box:

Please establish immediate contact through our 24x7x365 Toll-free or Helpline and provide them with your unique CRM details and contact details and they will guide you through the process.

Remove the gel packs from the refrigerator and place them in the thermacol box inside the kit box along with other material. Please ensure that you carry the kit with gel packs and all related documents to the hospital / nursing home while going to the hospital for delivery. On reaching the hospital, place the gel packs again in the deep freezer immediately and if you do not have access to a refrigerator in your room, please handover the same to the hospital authorities who will help you. Please ensure that the frozen gel packs are placed back in the kit box while sending the collected sample to LifeCell laboratory.

Umbilical cord blood is collected from the baby’s umbilical cord immediately after the birth of the baby and after the mother & baby are separated. This procedure can be performed with either vaginal or cesarean section deliveries. It is important to ensure that your doctor / paramedic collect as much cord blood as possible since larger stem cell samples have shown better survival rate in transplant. After collection of cord blood about 10 to 25 cms of the umbilical cord is cut and placed into the vials provided for the cord tissue.

The collection has to be completed within 10 minutes of delivery of the baby for maximum retrieval of stem cells.

In general most of the doctors are familiar with this procedure of cord blood and cord tissue stem cells who can perform the collection. However if your doctor is not comfortable doing the collection we can train her or hospital paramedic in the collection process well in advance to ensure a successful collection. LifeCell also offers the services of designated paramedical staff who are trained in cord blood & cord tissue collection and we can organize for their visit (in select cities) if informed in advance.

The collection process is very simple. The cord blood & cord tissue are collected after your baby has been born, mother and baby are separated and the umbilical cord has been clamped. The collection is non-invasive to the mother or baby, painless, easy and safe for mother and baby. Your doctor or paramedic staff will not alter their normal birthing process in any way, except to collect your baby's cord blood after birth of the baby. The entire process of collection takes less than 10 minutes after delivery.

Though many hospitals do not charge their patients for collection, this is purely at the discretion of the hospital. We suggest that you discuss this with your doctor who would be able to clarify on the payment, if any.

Once the cord blood and tissue are collected, the bag and the vial are sealed carefully to avoid contamination. Mother’s blood sample is also collected Review the instructions placed in the kit box for packing and please follow the instructions carefully. You may contact our 24x7x365 Toll free or Helpline for specific queries if need be. Please ensure that the frozen gel packed are placed alongside the sample placed inside the thermacol container and the Green Card is filled-up with all information.

It is advisable to contact the designated courier well in advance to be sure that they collect the sample on time immediately after collection. Please ensure that you have packed the sample alongwith the gel pack please The courier shall handle it with all precautions and ensure quick and safe deliver of the sample to our laboratory.

Upon handing over the sample to the courier / air cargo please inform LifeCell through 24x7x365 Toll free or Helpline or the local center with the following details and our logistics will organise to receive the sample.