Cord Blood Center

Cord Blood Center is the second biggest private cord blood bank in Europe and one of the most experienced cord blood banks with a history of nearly 25 years of success. Cord Blood Center was one of the first in the field and by 2021 it has processed and stored the cord blood for more than 175,000 clients.

Labs and Locations

The headquarters of Cord Blood Center is located in Switzerland, and it is active in 7 European countries - Switzerland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Austria, Czech Republic, Italy. The processing and storage facilities are all licensed under local regulations, with laboratories in Romania (Cluj-Napoca and Bucharest), Slovakia (Bratislava), Czech Republic (Modletice) and Austria (Wiener Neustadt). Cord Blood Center laboratories are accredited by their respective national Ministries of Health and other agencies and institutions (e.g. National Transplant Agency).

Business Experience

Cord Blood Center enables parents to store umbilical cord tissue and placental tissue along with cord blood, which together offers the widest range of cells that can be collected at birth and cryopreserved, allowing for multiple uses and a wider therapeutic potential. The storage of placental tissue is currently available in Slovakia and Romania. Cord Blood Center doesn’t just store cord blood and umbilical cord and placental tissue, it also strives to make the right treatment available to its clients both at home and abroad. Cord Blood Center has never been and does not intend to become involved in the storage or collection of embryonic stem cells.

Cord Blood Center operates and finances a public cord blood bank, the Slovak Register of Placental Hematopoietic Cells (formerly known as Eurocord-Slovakia), which is a member of the international bone marrow and cord blood donor’s database of the World Marrow Donor Association (WMDA). The registry is also connected to EMDIS, the European Marrow Donor Information System network, and is an associate member of other prestigious international organizations that set the quality standards for cord blood products.

Collection Kit

Cord Blood Center provides clients with a collection kit (to be opened by medical personnel only) that contains all the necessary content for the collection of umbilical cord blood, placental blood, umbilical cord tissue and placental tissue. Exact and pictorial instructions for the OB’s and nurses that will be doing the collection are included. The collection kit is double wrapped in aluminum packaging and inner sterile plastic wrapping, therefore suitable for C-Section collection.

Cord Blood Center prefers and recommends cord blood collection before the delivery of the placenta, because this increases the collected volume and therefore the amount of collected stem cells.

Transportation container

Cord Blood Center uses a transportation box that contains thermal insulation, 2 cooling packs and continuous temperature data logger.

Some Cord Blood Center branches use licensed transportation service for the transport of collected cord blood, umbilical cord tissue and placental tissue in special thermo-boxes. Cord Blood Center’s transportation box was validated to maintain room temperature under test conditions.

Shipping Info

Shipment is always arranged by Cord Blood Center and the fee is always part of the price for collection.

Cord blood, cord tissue, (and the placenta tissue, where available) together with maternal blood samples and the relevant documentation are prepared in the maternity ward and transported to the laboratory by a licensed transport service in special insulated boxes. The cooperating medical courier guarantees secure transport procedures designed for biological substances. The responsible persons are specially trained for handling biological material.

Processing Method

To maintain the highest possible amount of stem cells for future treatment, Cord Blood Center processes and stores cord blood as whole blood. This full processing method is the only way to store all the possible stem cells found in cord blood, such as: hematopoietic stem cells, mesenchymal stem cells and other cells, components of small sizes and various biologically active substances whose meaning is not currently described in detail. Preserving the largest possible quantity and spectrum of cells increases the chances of successful treatment in case of their use, mainly in regenerative medicine.

Processing is carried out by qualified personnel inside laminar boxes, which filter the air and thus significantly reduce the risk of infection. The cleaned collection bag is marked with a unique numerical code, and the volume and number of nucleated cells are determined.

Components Stored

Umbilical cord blood: Cord blood is stored in cryo-bags with 2-3 integrally attached segments for identity testing. After the processing is done, Cord Blood Center provide parents with the Certificate of Processing Results, containing information such as the volume of the collected blood and the number of TNC.

Umbilical cord tissue: Umbilical cord tissue is always collected in combination with umbilical cord blood collection. The cord tissue is cut into small pieces and stored in 6 cryotubes. Parents will be provided with a Certificate of Processing Results describing the test results.

Placental tissue: Cord Blood Center offers the storage of placental tissue in Romania and Slovakia. Processing of the placenta can yield more than 30 separate bags and cryotubes; thanks to this it is possible to use it multiple times for treatment. Parents will be provided with a Certificate of Processing Results describing the test results.

Storage Method

All bags and cryotubes are stored in the vapor phase of cryogenic nitrogen at temperatures below -150°C.

Cord blood: After centrifugation, the blood is transferred from the collection bag to a special bag resistant to low temperatures, then the freezing process starts: The cryo-bag is placed inside a protective metal case together with the test samples, and the case is placed in a controlled temperature (freezing) device and the temperature is lowered below -150°C. After freezing, the blood is hermetically sealed in protective packaging and placed inside a freezer tank, in which it can be stored for a long time (years).

Umbilical cord tissue: The cryotubes holding pieces of cord tissue are stored at a temperature below -150°C.

Placental tissue: Once the placental tissue is divided and stored in several bags and cryotubes (according to the size of the placenta), it is stored at the same temperature as the umbilical cord blood and umbilical cord tissue (below -150°C).

Licensing & Accreditation

Cord Blood Center laboratories are accredited by the respective national Ministries of Health and other agencies and institutions (e.g. the National Transplant Agency).

Clinical Experience

The Slovak Placental Stem Cell Registry released the first autologous cord blood therapy in Europe in 2004 for the successful treatment of a 10-month-old boy Andrej with medulloblastoma. By 2021, Cord Blood Center has released 187 umbilical cord blood units for the autologous and allogenic (also sibling) treatment of diseases such as: Cerebral Palsy, Autism, Stroke, Neuroblastoma, Hypoxic Brain Damage, Acute Lymphoblastic/Myeloid Leukemia, Non–Hodgkin Lymphoma, Aplastic Anemia or Neurodegenerative or Metabolic diseases.

Community Service

Cord Blood Center -Romania offers the following support programs for its clients.

Support programme:

Clients of Cord Blood Center automatically benefit at no additional charge.
Support in cases where the child has a condition that is typically treated with their own cord blood cells (hematopoietic cells).
The program covers assistance in finding a suitable transplant center anywhere in the world, expert consultation and the reimbursement of transplantation costs (up to 155,000 Euros) and personal expenses (up to 30,000 Euros).

Helping Hand programme:

This program covers assistance to client families that are seeking treatment in a clinical trial, anywhere in the world.
We have already arranged treatment for several children at the Duke University Medical Center in the USA.

Indicated Collection programme:

If an older sibling has a condition treated with cord blood as a standard treatment, this program covers Free collection and storage of cord blood, as well as Free collection and storage of umbilical cord tissue and placental tissue (if available in that country).

Prices

Please visit our contact form to enquire for the most up-to-date prices and services for each market. The price for the service consists of two parts:

Payment for collection – one-time payment that includes collection kit, collection, transport, examination, processing and freezing cryopreservation
Storage fee – the possibility of annual or multi-year payments with a price advantage