COLLECTION OF UMBILICAL CORD BLOOD
The umbilical cord blood is collected immediately after the birth of the baby, right after the ligature and cutting of the umbilical cord and before delivering the placenta. At that moment, your child is in the care of a pediatrician or midwife who performs the parturient examination and checkup of the baby. After the cutting of the umbilical cord the blood quickly coagulates in the air and therefore the collection must be carried out immediately so the sterile needle kit can gather in the most amount of the precious liquid. The collection is quick and painless for both, you and your child, and in no way interferes with the normal course of labor!
The umbilical cord, as well as the child, passes through the birth canal during the delivery, which is rich in vaginal microflora. There is a potential risk of contamination, which can through the violation of conditions for maintaining sterility and thorough disinfection of the injection site cause a degradation of the graft. Thorough disinfection is therefore absolutely necessary!
The average amount of umbilical cord blood harvested from the umbilical cord and placenta blood vessels is approx. 90 ml. The larger the amount collected, the greater the number of stem cells can be preserved and stored. However, there is not a direct correlation between the volume of collected cord blood and the quantity stem cells the sample contains. Leaching of stem cells into the umbilical cord and placenta blood vessels is a factor that cannot be influenced in any way. This means that in the same volume of collected cord blood each child has a different number of stem cells.
Should the mother decide to collect umbilical cord blood for her child’s needs, the collection can be done even during complications in pregnancy and complicated deliveries. Umbilical cord blood can be collected in non-standard situations, such as premature delivery, post term delivery, caesarean section, or a water birth. In addition, the epidural anesthesia, the use of most drugs, and diseases such as maternal gestosis (mainly manifested by swelling and high blood pressure) or diabetes, do not encumber the collection itself. The umbilical cord blood cannot be collected if there is a threat to life of the mother or the child, and if the mother is infected with HIV, acute hepatitis B and C, syphilis and listeriosis.
The obstetrician or midwife’s main priority is always the health of the mother and the child. In case of any complications, the obstetrician will consider whether the collection will take place, done so especially in the best interest of the mother. After the delivery and the collection of umbilical cord blood, the venous blood is also collected to perform subsequent tests.
TRANSPORT OF UMBILICAL CORD BLOOD
Harvested umbilical cord blood together with mother’s venous blood and the relevant documentation is transported to our tissue laboratory. The transport is provided directly through our tissue institution, which has received an authorized permission for distribution from the State Institute for Drug Control for shipments of empty and used sampling sets. Employees providing transportation are to maintain optimal conditions for the transport of biological material (at all times from the very collection of umbilical cord blood until its delivery in the tissue laboratory, they continuously monitor the physical conditions of transported sample, i.e. mainly the temperature. The temperature is checked by special thermochip that collects data, which we then evaluate upon the arrival of our transport assistant in the laboratory). Transport / distribution conditions are in accordance with the international agreement ADR and IATA DGR transporting materials class 6.2. "Biological Substance, cat. B, UN 3373 ".
One innovation for our clients is the complete, secure, free-of-charge distribution / transportation of prepared frozen transplant from our tissue institution to any transplant institution in the Czech Republic arranged without any third party agent. At the time of need for the transplant issuance, your selected transplant facility will contact us in writing, which we will conduct a very intensive communication with, pertaining to your transplant issuance. If everything is in order, it is possible to supply / deliver a transplant to a specialized transplant center within a few days (up to 2-3 weeks). During this time, thorough tests are conducted under applicable legislation on the prepared transplant graft and its identification so it can be safely provided for your child’s transplantation.