Video Summary:
In the video “The Precious Cell” by Yorgos Avgeropoulos the producer describes the advancements of stem cell research. In the midst of the Chernobyl incident, in 1986, scientist felt the necessity to find a way to store stem cells for protection against diseases. Discovered in the 1980’s by Hal Broxmeyer who thought to look in the blood of the umbilical cord of newborn children. There large quantities of primitive hematopoietic cells were found. Dr. Elain Gluckman performed the first successful human umbilical cord blood transplant. With the assistance of Dr. Hal Broxmeyer proved that unrelated cord blood could be used as a source of hematopoietic stem cells. The treated patient suffered from Fanconi disease a rare form of anemia…show more content… Broxmeyer in the 1980’s. The umbilical cord blood is made up of hematopoietic cells. The transplantation of these stem cells has been proven to treat illnesses. Dr. Gluckman performed the first successful transplant in 1988. The collection of the umbilical cord blood is not invasive to the mother or the newborn thus it is not associated with complicated ethical, religious or political concerns. Therefore, there is less controversy in the use of umbilical cord blood for clinical trials and testing. There are advantages in using umbilical cord blood over adult stem cells collected from bone marrow. Bone marrow collection is more invasive than the collection of umbilical cord blood and umbilical cord blood has been proven to show higher proliferating potential meaning that they can multiply at a higher rate than the cells collected from bone marrow. Once collected, the cord blood is examined for any viruses, the tissue type is checked, and then processed for freezing. It will then be stored until it is needed for transplantation. There are two types of cord blood transplants. Autologous transplants, transplants that come from the same persons stem cells and allogeneic transplants, a transplant that comes from someone else that has matching tissue. The transplant restores a patient’s ability to produce healthy blood cells, some of which are essential to…show more content… I had seen the advertisements in the baby magazines. However it wasn’t until I was researching this topic had I really understood the term. I feel that the stem cells obtained from umbilical cord blood can provide hope for many of those suffering from disease. The use of the cord blood is not invasive for the baby or the mother. This is typically thrown away after birth. Bone marrow donation is invasive and requires for the patient to undergo anesthesia for pain during the procedure. Recovery from bone marrow donation can take up to a week for the donor and in some cases complications can arise. While promising much more progress must be made. First there are few hospitals who collect cord blood for storage to private cord banks and even fewer for storage to public cord banks. Then comes the controversy of whether to store your baby’s cord blood in a private or public cord bank. The video “The Precious Cell” the narrator seemed to be bias toward using a public bank. While the narrator seemed bias I feel that he made excellent points. In doing some research I was able to verify his stance on Autologous transplants, transplants that come from the same persons stem cells. Public banks claim that autologous transplants have cured several people with blood diseases. However during my research I could only verify that it would not be possible because the blood would contain the same cells causing the