Frequently Asked Questions

Saving both cord blood and cord tissue will provide you with two different types of stem cells; haematopoietic stem cells from the cord blood, and mesenchymal stem cells from cord tissue – which means more potential treatment options for your family, should you need it in future.

As cord blood is collected at birth, tested, and stored, it is therefore ready and available when you need it.

The future of cell therapy and regenerative medicine is extremely exciting – with new technological advancements in medicine happening every day. By banking your baby’s cord stem cells, you are giving them the best chance at a healthy future. There is an ever-increasing probability of the stem cells being needed in future.

There are over 80 approved cord blood stem cell therapies, with more clinical trials being added each year. Over the past 30 years, more than 40,000 cord blood transplants have been performed worldwide.

These transplants have treated blood disorders such as bone marrow failure, haematological malignancies, inherited blood disorders, immunodeficiency syndromes, and metabolic disorders.

No. The collection takes less than 10 minutes to complete. The actual collection of the stem cells is risk free and painless (for both the mother and baby).

Stem cells are the basic building blocks of our body. They can replicate and renew themselves and have the potential to become almost any other type of cell in the body.

Umbilical cord blood and tissue is a rich source of stem cells and parents have the opportunity to store (cryo-preserve) these stem cells at birth.

Cord blood is the blood remaining in your baby’s
umbilical cord and placenta after birth. Cord blood
is a rich source of haematopoietic (blood-forming)
stem cells. Cord blood stem cells have the ability to
differentiate into red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. Cord blood transplantation has become an established practice throughout the world, including South Africa.

Cord tissue is the tissue that surrounds the umbilical vein and vessels in the umbilical cord. Cord tissue is a rich source of mesenchymal stem cells, a type of stem cell which is able to replicate, regenerate, and differentiate into many kinds of specialised cells in the body (including heart, muscle, and nerve cells).

Both your baby and their siblings could benefit from storing stem cells. Your baby’s stem cells will always be a 100% match for him/herself. Each brother or sister of the same biological parents has a 25% chance of being a match. Biological parents will be a partial (50%) match.

Immediately after you have given birth and your baby has been separated from the cord, your doctor or midwife will draw the remaining blood in the umbilical cord into the collection bag and also place a small section of the umbilical cord (20-25 cm) in the tissue container. The whole process takes less than 10 minutes to complete.

The collection procedure does not affect the birthing procedure (i.e. caesarean section, natural) and is completely non-invasive. Should you as parents decide to undergo delayed cord clamping and collection of cord blood cells, the delayed cord clamping should occur within 60 seconds.

Once your baby’s cord blood and tissue has been collected by your midwife or doctor it’s time to call CryoSave. We will send a specialised courier to collect the sample and deliver it to the CryoSave laboratory, our state-of-the-art processing and storage facility.
At the CryoSave laboratory, the cord blood and tissue are processed according to international standards. CryoSave is internationally accredited by the Association for the Advancement of Blood and Biotherapies (AABB). All cord blood samples are processed using internationally validated processing and cryopreservation protocols.

The cord blood and tissue stem cells will be kept in a liquid nitrogen storage tank (between -196 and -150 °C) at our secured facility for long-term storage.

Umbilical cord blood is harvested quickly and painlessly just a few minutes after birth. Once your baby has been born, the umbilical cord will be clamped and cut as normal. Your doctor (or midwife) will then collect the blood that is left over in the cord. A needle is inserted into the vein in the umbilical cord and blood is quickly drained into a specialised blood bag. Generally speaking, the number of stem cells collected is directly proportional to the volume of blood collected.

Usually at least 80ml of blood can be collected from a full-term infant. Bear in mind that delayed clamping of the cord may significantly reduce the amount of blood that can be collected which will, in turn, result in a lower number of stem cells in the collection. However, the two procedures can be combined successfully.

Cord blood stem cells have been shown to remain viable for at least 20 years in storage. CryoSave South Africa will cryopreserve your baby’s cord stem cells and tissue for at least 20 years. After 20 years, CryoSave will contact you to confirm continuing storage for an additional period of time.

After the birth, your doctor (or midwife) will place the cord blood bag and the cord tissue container back into the collection kit. A designated courier will collect the sample and deliver it to the CryoSave laboratory.

CryoSave’s is an Internationally Accredited (AABB Accredited) facility. All cord blood samples are processed using an internationally validated processing and cryopreservation protocol. Sample processing and storage is carried out under a strict quality management program. A cryo-preservative is added to the concentrated stem cells and they are frozen by a method of controlled-rate freezing and placed, for long-term storage, in the vapour phase of liquid nitrogen, in a cryo-preservation tank at below (colder than) -180 °C. The required blood tests on a sample of your baby’s cord blood will be performed by a private pathology laboratory.

Cord blood stem cells have been shown to remain viable for at least 20 years of storage.

CryoSave South Africa will cryo-preserve your baby’s cord blood and tissue stem cells for at least 20 years if you choose to bank your baby’s stem cells with us.

CryoSave is the founding and most trusted family stem cell bank in South Africa. With no public stem cell bank in Africa, the CryoSave laboratory (currently based in Pretoria) has been providing access to private stem cell processing and storage services in Southern Africa for over 20 years.

CryoSave South Africa has partnered with PBKM Famicord, the number one cord blood bank in Europe and the fifth biggest in the world. PBKM Famicord offers services in over 20 countries around the world and also has the most experience in the transfer of material for transplantation.

The CryoSave laboratory is a state-of-the-art processing and storage facility. All cord blood and tissue samples are processed using internationally validated processing and cryopreservation protocols.

The AABB is committed to improving health by developing and delivering standards, accreditation and educational programmes, and services to optimise patient and donor care and safety. “The AABB accreditation procedures are voluntary,” Dr Robert Crookes, medical consultant to CryoSave South Africa explained. “CryoSave South Africa has sought AABB accreditation as this programme assists facilities around the world in achieving excellence by promoting a level of professional and technical expertise that contributes to quality performance and patient safety.”

CryoSave South Africa is a member of the Cord Blood Association, which forms part of an international network that works together to advance cord blood banking and therapies; advocating, increasing usage, and supporting causes to achieve these goals. This association is headed up by the distinguished Professor Joanne Kurtzberg; one of the leading transplant specialists in applying cord stem cell therapy in Regenerative Medicine.