TimeCritical^® Cord Blood Processing

Why Cord Blood Processing Time Matters
The primary reason for banking your baby's cord blood and cord tissue stem cells is to ensure the best chance of survival if you or a family member is ever faced with a critical disease or condition. 

Having more viable cord blood stem cells available at the time of a transplant directly correlates to transplant success and patient survival rate.² That is why it is critical to recover the highest amount of viable stem cells possible in case a stem cell transplant is needed.

Processing cord blood within 12 hours after collection has been demonstrated to yield significantly greater numbers of viable stem cells, and colony forming units that grow into life-saving tissue.

Other Cord Blood Banks' Processing Time
Other companies report an average time of 24 hours or more from the time the cord blood is collected to the time it is processed at their lab. This means that cord blood specimens processed by other cord blood banks could experience a significant loss of both mononucleated cells (MNCs) and stem cell colony forming units (CFUs) that grow into life-saving tissue.

In fact, the number of viable MNCs in cord blood has been shown to be 67% higher when processed within 12 hours verses 24 hours. Furthermore, specimens that are processed within the first 12 hours after cord blood collection have also been shown to contain 2.8 times more CFUs, as compared to specimens processed at 24 hours.

This significant delay until processing negatively impacts the number of viable stem cells that can be recovered from the cord blood. In turn, this can have a devastating effect on the outcome of what could have otherwise been a potentially life-saving transplant.

MiracleCord's TimeCritical Processing

MiracleCord places a strong emphasis on making sure your baby’s cord blood is processed quickly and efficiently. Unlike other cord blood banks, we have the unique ability to process umbilical cord blood and cord tissue specimens within 12 hours after collection.³

When coupled with our Direct Medical Courier Service that transports your baby's cord blood and tissue in a safe and timely manner, and our AXP® II automated processing method, which has been proven to recover 99% of cells, you can rest assured that our processes aim to recover the most viable cells possible.

¹ Shlebak AA, Marley SB, et al. Optimal timing for processing and cryopreservation of umbilical cord hematopoietic stem cells for clinical transplantation. Bone Marrow Transplantation 1999; 23: 131-136.
² Wagner JE, Barker JN, DeFor TE, Baker KS, Blazar BR, Eide C, Goldman A, Kersey J, Krivit W, MacMillan ML, Orchard PJ, Peters C, Weisdorf DJ, Ramsay NKC, Davies SM. 2002. Transplantation of unrelated donor umbilical cord blood in 102 patients with malignant and nonmalignant diseases: Influence of CD34 cell dose and HLA disparity on treatment-related mortality and survival. Blood 100 (5): 1611-1618.
³ MiracleCord’s average time of 12 hours from collection to processing was calculated using a date range of 02/25/09 to 10/19/13. Our ability to process cord blood specimens within an average time of 12 hours of collection is subject to certain conditions beyond our control.