Process Overview
Introduction
The only time cord blood can be collected is immediately after the birth of your baby, a process that is non-invasive and takes only a few minutes. Cord blood collection is performed by your delivering physician or midwife following sterile methods of collection.
The cord blood is then sent to Lifebank's accredited cryopreservation laboratory for processing and on-site storage. Processing is performed under strict laboratory conditions within 48 hours of the birth of your baby to ensure the highest possible yield of cord blood stem cells.
The stem cells are then stored cryogenically for exclusive use by your family.
By having your baby's cord blood stored and immediately available, you will not have to wait until a transplant donor of compatible stem cells is found. Donor cells from bone marrow also carry the risk of contamination from viruses, a risk that is proven to be very low with cord blood. Time is crucial and the chance of finding an identical matching donor is not always easy.
Cord blood also offers the possible chance of being used by other siblings of the same parents or the parents themselves.
*Cord blood is ineligible for storage if the mother has ever tested positive for HIV, HBsaAg or anti-HCV.
Registration
To register, simply complete our online registration forms with "digital signature" or download our registration forms. Once you’ve read and completed the registration forms return them to Lifebank by fax or mail.
A Lifebank representative will contact you once the registration forms are received, and arrange with you the delivery of your collection kit. The collection kit contains everything your healthcare professional needs for the cord blood collection. The collection kit has been designed to ensure that the cord blood unit remains secure and temperature controlled during transport.
Fax to:
604 -738-2726
or toll free
1- 888-544-2726
Mail to:
Lifebank Corp.
#200 – 4475 Wayburne Drive
Burnaby, BC V5G 4X4
Canada
Collection
You will need to remember to bring the collection kit to the hospital at the time of delivery.
The cord blood collection is done by your healthcare professional and takes only a few minutes to perform. If this is your healthcare professional's first cord blood collection, we provide step-by-step instructions in the collection kit. We encourage them to call Lifebank with any questions they may have.
A sample of blood from the mother is collected at time of delivery. Utilizing Health Canada and FDA approved donor screening procedures, the blood is tested for the following infectious diseases*.
Infectious Disease Testing
anti-HIV 1 / 2
NAT HIV
anti-HTLV I / II
HBsAg
anti-HBc
anti-HCV
NAT HCV
Syphilis
CMV
NAT West Nile
T.cruzi
*A positive infectious disease test result (excluding CMV) may preclude you from storing your baby’s cord blood unit.
Shipping
Lifebank will help you every step of the way with the shipment of your baby’s cord blood unit to ensure this process is as simple as possible. We are able to offer numerous years of knowledge and experience in the shipping of cord blood units from across North America.
For shipments within the Vancouver area:
Shortly after the birth of your baby, Lifebank must be called to make arrangements for shipping of the collection kit to our lab. You can either have a family member bring the kit to Lifebank, or we will organize a local courier to pick up your kit from the hospital and deliver it to our laboratory.
For shipments outside the Vancouver area:
When you receive your cord blood collection kit, it will be packaged in a pre-addressed and pre-labeled box. You must keep this box for return shipping of your collection kit to Lifebank. In the collection kit we provide waybills for the recommended courier companies, and complete instructions for shipping your kit to Lifebank.
You must inform Lifebank your shipping arrangements as soon as possible. Once your collection kit arrives at our laboratory, you will be contacted by a Lifebank representative.
Processing
Processing and cryopreservation of the cord blood unit should be completed within 48 hours , so it is important that the collection kit be returned to our laboratory within 24-36 hours of cord blood collection.
During processing, the red cell component of the umbilical cord blood is reduced. This isolates the plasma, which is the source of your baby’s cord blood stem cells. The cord blood unit is tested for sterility, viability and stem cell count. The results of these tests are available upon request.
Storage
The cord blood stem cells are frozen in a specialized cryocyte freezing bag which can sustain ultra-low temperatures (minus 196 degrees Celsius) required for long term stem cell storage.
Prior to receipt of infectious disease test results, all cord blood units are placed in a quarantine cryostorage tank. Upon receipt of negative infectious disease test results, your cord blood unit is safely relocated to our long term main storage tank.
Lifebank’s liquid nitrogen vapour phase storage tanks are equipped with a 24 hour, 7-day monitored alarm device, internal and external to the storage facility, with backup security and electrical systems in place.
