Store umbilical cord blood • Stem cells for later therapy

Stored stem cells can save your child's life in later illnesses. To take advantage of this unique opportunity, parents and grandparents should deal with the issue of stem cells before giving birth: Do we want to provide this special health care for our child or grandchild?

What are stem cells?

Stem cells are the basic building block of life: stem cells produce more than 200 different cell types such as blood, muscle or nerve cells. Incidentally, the first stem cell of humans is the fertilized egg cell. After birth, stem cells renew our worn-out cells and tissues. In addition, they control the regeneration and repair of wounds, broken bones or other damage to the body for a lifetime in the event of injuries and illnesses.

In the course of life, however, the number of stem cells decreases or their quality decreases – this is one of the reasons why the aging process becomes visible at some point through wrinkles or gray hair. Human beings are also much more susceptible to diseases than in younger years.

Stem cells from the umbilical cord

A special source of stem cells is found in the umbilical cord. The cells it contains are particularly young and powerful, they multiply quickly and their genome is free from environmental damage. The younger stem cells are, the better they can support repair mechanisms in our body. Broken bones or wounds heal in children much faster than in older people. That is why the very young stem cells from the umbilical cord in particular have great potential and can be lifesavers in the later treatment of diseases.

Store umbilical cord blood – how it works!

It is best to take umbilical cord blood during childbirth

Parents can create a stem cell depot in order to offer their child the chance to resort to treatment with their own stem cells for certain diseases later in life. For this, the cells are secured at the earliest possible point in time, directly after birth, and stored long-term.

Collecting umbilical cord blood is easy and safe for both mother and child. After the umbilical cord has been removed, the umbilical cord is punctured in order to collect stem cell-rich blood from the placenta and the umbilical cord.

How do I find the right clinic?

Proper collection of umbilical cord blood is not possible in every hospital in Germany. Therefore, the choice of the appropriate maternity hospital also plays an important role for expectant parents who want to create a stem cell depot for their child. Vita 34 has a steadily growing network of currently more than 600 maternity hospitals, in which umbilical cord blood and umbilical cord tissue can be collected during birth. Using the clinic finder, you can easily find a suitable clinic near you.

Successful therapies, studies and healing attempts

Umbilical cord blood rich in stem cells is already used successfully as a medicinal product in the treatment of diseases, in therapies or in attempts at healing. Umbilical cord blood or cells from umbilical cord blood have already been used in over 80 indications.

Possible uses for stem cells from umbilical cord blood:

• Regeneration of blood formation

• Neurological damage (e.g. early childhood brain damage)

• Metabolic diseases and immune defects (e.g. frailty, type 1 diabetes mellitus)

• Autoimmune diseases (e.g. amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), rheumatoid arthritis)

• Degenerative tissue diseases (e.g. osteoarthritis)

Store stem cells from the umbilical cord

If you want to use the potential of stem cells from the umbilical cord for your own child, you can store umbilical cord blood after taking it. In this way, the stem cells are kept for the child's medical care.

Keeping cord blood is a long-term investment. The stem cells can be stored for up to 50 years and longer. The providers of umbilical cord blood banks therefore have a special responsibility: after all, the stored cells must still be operational and available in 50 years' time. Many parents ask themselves: How can this work? And who guarantees us that the company will last so long? In this case, large and experienced umbilical cord blood banks such as Vita 34 offer special insolvency insurance.

This protects the blood from corporate bankruptcy for the entire storage period. In addition, Vita 34 must be able to transport the umbilical cord blood safely and quickly to the respective hospital in the event of an application – sometimes sometimes worldwide: Vita 34 has already successfully delivered preparations from Germany to patients in Australia, the USA, Spain or Georgia.