The process of storing umbilical cord blood

To learn about contract contraindications, visit the contract contraindications page.

After the family reviews the contract contraindications and confirms no obstacles, applicants must proceed with registration and complete the medical questionnaire through the New Applicant Registration section on the website, starting from the end of the 34th week of pregnancy. If electronic registration is not possible, the applicant can visit one of Royan Cord Blood Bank's offices across the country in person and complete the medical questionnaire form at the time of contract signing.

The applicant can pay the sample storage fee electronically through their user panel.

If electronic registration and payment via the website are not possible for you, you can visit one of Royan Stem Cell Cord Blood Bank's offices across the country. There, at the time of contract signing, you can pay the sample storage fee using the card reader available in the offices.

Note: If you register and pay electronically, there is no need to provide a receipt at the time of contract signing. 

The applicant can pay the sample storage fee electronically through their user panel.

If electronic registration and payment via the website are not possible for you, you can visit one of Royan Stem Cell Cord Blood Bank's offices across the country. There, at the time of contract signing, you can pay the sample storage fee using the card reader available in the offices.

Note: If you register and pay electronically, there is no need to provide a receipt at the time of contract signing. 

In-person Registration

At this stage, the father can visit one of Royan Cord Blood Bank's offices to sign the contract, bringing along the father's and mother's national ID cards. 

After the contract is signed by the father or his representative, the blood collection kit is handed over, and the necessary explanations regarding coordination with the peripheral blood collection specialist and kit preparation are provided by the admission expert. 

Note: The above points are specific to in-person contract signing. If you register electronically, there will be no need to comply with the above points.

Online Registration

Tehran Online Contracts

For Cesarean section delivery

The blood collection kit package along with the contract will be sent to the family in the last week before delivery, in coordination with the peripheral blood collection specialist.

For Natural (Vaginal) delivery

After the contract is signed, the blood collection kit package along with the contract will be sent on the same day during working hours.

Remark:

If the newborn's father is not present at the time of contract signing, the contract can be signed by the spouse (newborn's mother) without any issue. 

If you encounter any problems during the registration process or need answers to your questions, you can call **27635000** at any time of the day or night, seven days a week. Our colleagues are ready to guide and assist you.

To inquire about the working hours of other Royan Cord Blood Bank representative offices, please contact the respective office. (Address and contact numbers of representative offices)

At the time of delivery, in coordination with Royan Cord Blood Bank, blood will be collected from the mother for the following tests.

Aside from the tests below, which are only performed by Royan Cord Blood Bank, typically no further tests will be required from the family.

Test List:

Note: If Royan Cord Blood Bank's consulting physician deems additional tests necessary, these tests must be performed by the mother at a reputable laboratory, and the results submitted to the consulting physician.

The umbilical cord blood collection process is performed completely sterile, pain-free, and without interfering with the mother's labor. Blood collection can be done either intra-uterinely or extra-uterinely. In both cases, there is no harm to the mother or the newborn. The volume of blood collected can range from 60 to 200 CC. This process usually does not take more than 5 minutes.

After umbilical cord blood collection, the blood bag is placed in the flask according to the provided instructions and transferred to Royan Cord Blood Bank within a maximum of 24 hours, maintaining a temperature of approximately fifteen to twenty-five degrees Celsius, for processing operations.

The received sample is first examined for volume and cell count. If the sample volume is at least 50 CC and the cell count is at least 600 million cells, it proceeds to the cell processing laboratory. Otherwise, the family is informed, the contract is terminated, and the fee is refunded according to the contract. Samples meeting the minimum standard conditions undergo microbial and viral tests, *HLA, colony assay, and flow cytometry. Finally, they are stored long-term in special storage tanks at -196 degrees Celsius.

* HLA, or Human Leukocyte Antigen, are markers present on most cells of an individual's body. The immune system uses these markers to distinguish which cells belong to the individual and which do not. A close match between HLA markers in the donor and recipient will reduce the risk of the donor's immune cells attacking the recipient, thereby increasing transplant success. To minimize transplant-related side effects, physicians aim to use stem cells compatible with the recipient. If an individual requires an allogeneic transplant (using cells from a family member or another unrelated donor), the physician must first request the recipient's blood sample for HLA testing. Each individual inherits half of their HLA markers from their father and half from their mother; therefore, the chance of an HLA match with a sibling is approximately 25%. However, about 70% of patients who need a transplant do not have a suitable donor in their family. Therefore, if an individual does not have a donor, they should consider using an unrelated donor sample or other cord blood units. 6 HLA indicators have been identified for minimum matching. These minimums include 2 A antigens, 2 B antigens, and 2 DRB1 antigens. In adult donors, at least 5 markers between donor and recipient must match, but for cord blood use, this minimum includes 4 HLA indicators.

At least 13 days after the sample is received by Royan Cord Blood Bank and undergoes cellular processing, the result, indicating either successful freezing or inability to freeze the sample (contract termination), will be communicated to the family by customer service unit experts.

Three months after the newborn's birth, applicants must upload a copy of the newborn's birth certificate through their user panel on the website or send it to the customer relations unit's email address: crm@rsct.ir. They also need to complete the child health assessment form on the Royan Cord Blood Bank website.

It is important to note that the sample freezing certificate will only be accessible and viewable by the contracting party through the company's website (Members Login section) after the document submission and completion of the aforementioned questionnaire.

To maintain the frozen stem cell sample in Royan Cord Blood Bank, the family must pay the annual maintenance fee on the due date. It is understood that the renewal of the contract and the continuation of sample storage in this bank will depend on the payment of the annual maintenance fee.

(For information on the annual maintenance fee, click here )