Wharton ’ s Jelly (Cord Tissue) for Cleft Palate Repair

Did you know that the most common congenital birth defect is a cleft lip or palate?   At about 9 weeks your baby’s face is formed. During this time if the tissues that compose the upper lip do not completely attach, your baby can be born with a cleft lip or palate. A cleft lip is an opening in the upper lip. According to MedlinePlus, “The opening can be a small slit or a large opening that goes through the lip into the nose. Children with a cleft lip also can have a cleft palate. With a cleft palate, the tissue that makes up the roof of the mouth does not join correctly.” Children who are born with a cleft lip or palate often have difficulty with feeding and talking. “They also might have ear infections, hearing loss, and problems with their teeth”. Cleft lip surgery and speech therapy are often suggested and new research shows that banking your baby’s cord tissue could help in repairing the cleft lip/palate. While we know the many advantages of banking cord blood, cord tissue is still being developed. This new research looks into using cord tissues, made up of Wharton’s jelly which contains mesenchymal stems. According to Dr. Charles S. Cox, Jr., Professor of Pediatric Surgery, and the George and Cynthia Mitchell Distinguished Chair in Neuroscience, these stem cells, “support bone in-growth and can develop into bone cells called osteoblasts. Even when minced, the collagen fibers in the cord tissue give it structural characteristics that enable it to pack the...
Source: Cord Blood News - Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: Tags: Cord Tissue stem cells Source Type: blogs