Oklahoma
OK, United States
Oklahoma has state legislation around cord blood education that follows the Institute of Medicine guidelines and mandates/encourages physicians to educate expectant parents about ALL forms of cord blood banking. The Oklahoma bill was enacted 15 May 2008 and became effective 1 July 2008.
FAQs
- What is delayed cord clamping?
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Some people feel that the blood in the umbilical cord should be allowed to flow into the baby and that the cord should not be clamped while it is still pulsing. Medical studies have shown that, particularly in parts of the world with poor infant health care, delayed cord clamping can help protect the baby from anemia (low blood counts) during the first 6 months of life. However, a prolonged delay will allow the blood in the cord to clot, and the opportunity to collect the blood for stem cells will be lost. Therefore, if clamping is delayed, it should not be more than two minutes.
References:
Hutton, EK & Hassan, ES, JAMA 2007; 297:1241-1252
van Rheenen, P et al., Tropical Med. and Internal Health 2007; 12(5):603-616
Abalos E., 2009; The World Health Organization Reproductive Health Library
- What questions should parents ask a Family Bank about collecting cord blood?
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- What instructional tools are provided for the physician and delivery staff?
- Will the cord blood company actively contact the labor and delivery staff for you -- or are parents responsible for keeping them informed and coordinated?
- What collection method do they use: gravity drip or blood draw?
- Is the collection blood bag sterile, both inside and out, so that it can be used in the operating room for a C-section?
- Do they provide the option of collecting additional stem cells from the placenta or tissue of the umbilical cord?
- What is HLA Type and how is it used?
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The term "HLA" is short for Human Leukocyte Antigens, and these are proteins in the immune system that determine whether a patient will react against a donor transplant. A very good basic tutorial about HLA types is on the Stanford Website, and the national Be The Match program (aka NMDP) has more info on the role of HLA type in transplants of stem cells from bone marrow or cord blood.
Briefly, there are 6 HLA types that are important for stem cell transplants: in a bone marrow transplant the patient and donor must match at all 6 (100% match), whereas a cord blood transplant is just as effective at curing patients with only a 4 out of 6 match (67% match) between donor and patient. This is the reason that donations to the national cord blood inventory managed by NMDP are so important to help patients who come from minority or mixed ethnic backgrounds.
The HLA type of cord blood is always measured by public banks, and then the type is listed on a registry that can be searched by patients seeking a transplant. Family banks typically do not measure the HLA type at the time of banking, because it is an expensive lab test and and can always be checked later from a testing segment of the stored cells.
