Placenta donation: how it works

What are the benefits of donating your placenta?

 The first placenta donation, which is already possible but little known in Italy, has taken place in Friuli Venezia Giulia. How it works,

• What is placenta donation
• How donation works: when and how
• The differences from other donations
• Can you save the placenta or cord for your baby?
• What and who needs the placenta for
• How to donate the placenta

It is noninvasive, "does not affect mother or baby, and is a different and separate procedure from cord blood donation." It is placenta donation, which can be performed at the time of delivery. For the first time, such a procedure was performed these days in Friuli Venezia Giulia, in Udine, in collaboration between the Obstetrics and Gynecology Clinic of the city's hospital, the Regional Transplant Center and Veneto Tissue Bank. "I was very pleased to hear that the first placenta donation was made in Friuli Venezia Giulia, because in this way they are increasing the number of centers that can become collection points for human placentas, given the great therapeutic potential that some tissues and products derived from them have," commented Ornella Parolini, a pioneer in this field, full professor at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart and director of the Eugenia Menni Research Center (CREM) of Fondazione Poliambulanza in Brescia, which has been using human term placentas as a source of adult stem cells for more than 20 years.

But what does it consist of and why can it be useful

What is placenta donation

"The placenta is the organ of exchange between the mother and the fetus that performs fundamental nutritive, respiratory, excretory, hormonal and protective functions in the womb and is excreted subsequent to delivery. After delivery, in fact, it no longer has any function and is usually eliminated as biological waste," clarifies Professor Parolini of CREM of Fondazione Poliambulanza,

The placenta, intact, contains precisely stem cells and has enormous potential for the development of new therapies, particularly in the area of regenerative medicine.

How donation works: when and how

"If the birth takes place in a facility that provides for it, mothers can decide to donate the placenta by proceeding to fill out consent forms. Donation does not involve any kind of invasive intervention and is therefore completely safe, both for the baby and the mother," Parolini explains.

For the woman there is no cost, the important thing is that she falls within certain clinical pictures that allow donation and that are explained to her in case she is interested.

"Donation has no consequences for the mother or the child," the Friuli Central University Health Authority also reminds us, "and is a different and separate procedure from cord blood donation; after the placenta is processed to separate the amniotic membrane, the latter is stored at the Tissue Bank and made available to wards that request it.

Differences from other donations

The placenta donation that took place in Friuli is a novelty because until now it had been mostly about placental blood and umbilical cord donation. "The collection and storage of the cord is not so easy and has a higher cost, around 2,000 euros. Blood, on the other hand, can be collected from the placenta or the cord. It is still the same type of blood, that is, rich in stem cells capable of generating red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. It is then collected in a sterile bag, labeled and stored by freezing in liquid nitrogen at 196° below zero," explains Daniela Galliano, M.D., a surgeon specializing in Gynecology, Obstetrics and Reproductive Medicine and Head of the PMA Center at IVI Rome.

Can one keep the placenta or cord for one's baby?

While in theory and net of medical requirements any woman can donate the placenta or umbilical cord, it must be remembered that this can be done "always and only in the form of donation: that is, all women at the end of pregnancy can be offered to do so, but never for personal purposes," Galliano clarifies. In short, one cannot ask to keep placentas or umbilicus for oneself or one's child, in case of any future "needs": "What one cannot do in Italy, in fact, is to donate cord blood for use reserved exclusively for one's newborn. Italian law, however, allows you to export it to a foreign facility, at your own expense, and store it for personal use," the gynecologist further clarifies.

What and whom the placenta is used for

"The amniotic membrane, which is normally discarded after childbirth "has remarkable regenerative capabilities and therefore can be successfully used in complex clinical situations such as extensive burns, hard-to-heal ulcers or, when pulverized and used within an eye drop, facilitate the healing of eye wounds," explains the Friuli Central University Health Authority.

But that's not all: "From placental blood, it is possible to recover hematopoietic stem cells, which when transplanted can cure a variety of blood diseases. From placental tissues, on the other hand, it is possible to obtain various derivatives one of them is the amniotic membrane, but there are also different types of cells. The therapeutic potential of all these derivatives is based on the ability of certain cells (called mesenchymal stromal cells) to modulate the inflammatory response and promote tissue regeneration in various degenerative diseases," explains Parolini, who is also president of the International Placenta Stem Cell Society and in 2016 received the prestigious international STANDOUT WOMAN award.

How to donate the placenta

"The placenta," explains Lorenza Driul, director of the Obstetrics and Gynecology Clinic at Trento Hospital, "can be donated when delivery is by scheduled cesarean section after 35 weeks and there is no major disease in the mother or baby. The medical staff of the Obstetrics Clinic proposes the possibility of placenta donation to mothers during pregnancy, before the cesarean section."

The same kind of procedure is followed in all facilities where placenta or cord donation is possible.