M.A.Z.E. PROCESSING AND STORAGE
From the beginning, M.A.Z.E. Cord Blood Laboratories will work with you to try to make the process as easy as possible. You can call M.A.Z.E. Cord Blood at (877) MAZELAB (629-3522) to request an information packet or download the registration materials from our Web site. Once you have completed the materials, simply fax them to us at (914) 683-0974 AND mail them to us at 2975 Westchester Avenue, Suite 3G , Purchase , NY 10577 . A cord blood collection kit will be mailed to you after registration is complete. Cord blood can only be saved at birth so take this kit to the hospital. Your physician or nurse will use this kit to collect your baby's cord blood and draw your blood.
Call the phone number on the cord blood collection kit after delivery. Your baby's blood will be picked up by a medical courier within a few hours. The rest is up to us!
The Technical Details
Immediately after the baby's birth, a physician or nurse will collect one bag of umbilical cord blood, which is approximately 150 ml or 5 oz.
The cord blood will be collected after the umbilical cord has been cut and either before or after the placenta has been delivered. Therefore, there is absolutely no risk to you or your baby. Additionally, the physician will draw three tubes of the mother's blood for testing.
A medical courier will bring the cord blood collection kit containing the cord blood and the mother's blood to M.A.Z.E. Cord Blood Laboratories.
In the lab, the technician will:
- Run the mother's blood through a wide variety of tests to ensure that there are no diseases present at the time of delivery that could have transferred to the child's cord blood.
- Reduce the volume of the blood to about one quarter of the collected volume (approximately 25 ml or 63 oz.) by removing a large proportion of the red blood cells and plasma (liquid portion of the blood). The red blood cells and plasma do not need to be stored as they do not contain stem cells.
- Analyze the cord blood to determine how many transplantable cells are present and create a report with this information. This information will be useful in case you need to use the cord blood later.
- Add cryopreservative (special chemicals to help in the freezing process) to the remaining stem cell collection.
- Slowly chill the bag at a rate of 1º centigrade (C) per minute until it reaches the optimal freezing temperature of -130º C (-320º Fahrenheit).
- Transfer the stem cell collection into storage.
M.A.Z.E. Cord Blood Laboratories stores all cord blood in vapor nitrogen.
There are two different ways to store cord blood: in "full liquid" (that means that the tank is full of liquid nitrogen, stored at -190º Celsius) or in "vapor" (that means that the specimens are not in the liquid, but rather in the vapor from the liquid, stored at -130º Celsius). There are pros and cons to each storage method, but the industry standard is changing to vapor.
Although temperature maintenance used to be better in full liquid, new storage tanks have been significantly improved and now vapor tanks are able to maintain a consistent temperature throughout the tanks. Also, there is some hesitation about storing in full liquid because infections or bacteria might be able to "swim" through the liquid and infect another specimen.
M.A.Z.E. Cord Blood Laboratories has begun storing specimens in vapor as we are now confident of temperature control using this method. Our tank's temperature is monitored electronically with readings every hour and we have two back-up alarm systems should the temperature be compromised in any way.
Cord blood storage: Ensuring Safety
Questions? Ask a cord blood expert
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(877) MAZELAB (629-3522)