Cord Blood vs. Marrow for Transplants

Here's some interesting cord blood news. A study from the Statistical Center, Cebter for Blood Marrow and Transplant Research, an arm of the Medical College of Wisconsin, supports the notion that umbilical cord blood transplants may actually produce better outcomes for blood cancer victims than usually found with more traditional bone marrow transplants.

News-Medical.net recently reported on the study, which lends additional support for the notion that cord blood may be incredibly helpful on a variety of treatment fronts. Their article notes, in part:

"This is the first large study in children to directly compare matched bone marrow...and mismatched umbilical cord blood. There is considerable controversy in the medical community about which source of blood stem cells (cord blood or marrow) should be considered the 'gold standard' for the treatment of childhood leukemia".

You can read the entire piece and a synopsis of the study's findings here.