STEM CELL COLLECTION:

Bone Marrow Collection:
150 mL of patient’s own bone marrow is obtained through posterior superior iliac spine approach under local anaesthesia into syringes. This region is most accessible and rich source of bone marrow. A well-trained hematologist performs this procedure with an anaesthesiologist in a hospital operating room. Bone marrow collection may last up to an about 1.5 hours. Bone marrow collection is quite safe and most patients do not find it to be painful – during or after the procedure.

Umbilical Cord Tissue Collection:
Use of umbilical cord tissue from human subjects requires Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval and a signed informed consent form. The Umbilical cords used to harvest stem cells are from both healthy mother and healthy baby. Umbilical cord from mothers and babies with questionable health status such as stillbirth, preeclampsia, infectious disease, STD, or hepatitis-positive are excluded from cell harvestation process. The cells are collected 12-24 hours post-delivery, and screened for genetic diseases and various viral and bacterial diseases before cryopreservation. Once the cells meet all the aforementioned criteria, they are expanded and cryopreserved at -196 degree Celsius for further use in stem cell treatments.