Learn about cord blood freezing. A cord blood bank is a facility which stores umbilical cord blood for future use. Both private and public cord blood banks have developed since the mid-to-late 1990s in response to the potential for cord blood in treating diseases of the blood and immune systems.
After the collection, which happens directly after the birth, your baby’s cord blood unit is shipped to the lab. Depending on the company you choose, it may then be processed to remove the red blood cells, or kept whole.
Either way, the unit will be cryo-preserved, which means that a chemical additive is added to the cord blood so that the living cells survive the freezing process. Some of the most commonly used chemicals are pentastarch, hetastarch and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO).
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