Following an in-depth study lasting more than two years, Cryo-Cell International is proud to announce the development of a new advanced kit for the collection and transportation of clients' cord blood and tissue.
The kit provides 30 times more protection from outside temperatures than other kits currently used in the cord blood–banking industry and features a new jostle-free, eco-friendly briefcase design that securely holds each component of the kit in place during transportation. The kit will continue to contain a heparin-free, FDA-approved cord blood collection bag and the necessary materials to store more testing samples for the future benefit of our families.
"This appears to be one of the best performing cord blood collection kits of any private or public bank," said Todd Schuesler, Director of Cryo-Cell International's laboratory and cryo-preservation facility.
Why the kit is important
A stem cell exposed to temperatures outside the range of 39–86 degrees Fahrenheit (4–30 degrees Celsius) can lose functionality. In addition, some routine tests that look for the presence of infectious diseases in the maternal blood are invalid if the kit stays above 77 degrees Fahrenheit (25 degrees Celsius) for more than 24 hours.
Our collection kit features new vacuum-insulated materials that are ten times more resistant to thermal change and includes gel packs that absorb or give off energy in the form of heat to help maintain the safe temperature range. These two components help give the new collection kit the distinct advantage of being able to consistently hold the desired temperature range for extended periods of time. To ensure temperatures stay within the desired range, an internal indicator continuously monitors the temperature during transportation and alerts us if there was a temperature excursion above 86 degrees or below 39 degrees.
New, eco-friendly design
The kit's all-new briefcase design is made from almost completely recyclable or re-usable materials. This eco-friendly approach to our collection kits is part of our continued efforts to institute "green" procedures, processes and products whenever possible. Inside, new jostle-free placeholders securely hold collections in place during transportation.
Retains what matters
Parents will continue to find a large, 250-milliliter cord blood collection bag that uses the anti-coagulant citrate–phosphate–dextrose (CPD) as recommended by the FDA. Studies also show that CPD collection bags can increase the stem cell yield by more than 50 percent compared with heparin collection bags used by some other cord blood banks.37
In addition, our collection kit will continue to house five vials for collecting the mother's blood. We collect additional vials of the mother's blood in case it is ever needed for future testing. The preservation of these additional maternal samples goes hand in hand with our commitment to retain and preserve the cord blood's plasma and red cells, which are routinely discarded by other cord blood banks. These two measures are taken to facilitate possible future transplant needs and in the anticipation of possible future developments in medical science.