An unrelated umbilical cord blood transplant is basically a variation of the standard bone marrow transplant. The advantage of an umbilical cord transplant is it is far easier to match to a patient. Bone marrow transplants need nearly exact matches to prevent significant graph versus host rejection. The two hospitals best known for cord blood [...]

A research team from Duke University has released a report that says unrelated umbilical cord blood transplants for myelodysplastic syndrome in children result in a three-year event-free survival of 61%. The details of this study appeared in the August 2009 issue of Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation. The source of stems cells is usually [...]

A story about a young girl with cerebral palsy in Colorado, who was treated with stem cell from her own cord blood, has been making headlines lately – with good reason. The treatments were successful. Dr. Joanne Kurtzberg, a professor of pediatrics and pathology at Duke University, was conducting a study where children with cerebral [...]

New information from a research study conducted at the Masonic Cancer Center at the University of Minnesota shows that patients who have acute leukemia and are transplanted with two units of umbilical cord blood have significantly reduced risk of the disease returning. “We believe our finding provides evidence that using two units of UCB for [...]

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network recently finished important updates to its Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology for acute myeloid leukemia and for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The guidelines now note that acute myeloid leukemia should be treated based on regimens that have been established in clinical trials, and they emphasize the importance of using the regimens consistently [...]

Several months ago an eight-year-old girl underwent surgery to receive the cord blood stem cell of her younger sister. The child was suffering from thalassemia, a disorder that affects red blood corpuscles. A thalassemia patient might require blood transfusion as frequently as once every week, a disorder which is often fatal in children. Less than [...]

Embryonic stem cell research saw an ease in funding restrictions this week, when the National Institute of Health announced federal funds may be used to work with already existing human embryonic stem cell lines. The National Institute of Health ’s guidelines follow President Barack Obama’s original lift of the Bush Administration’s research restrictions in March. [...]

Scientists like Dr Leonard Smith and his team of researchers believe that autism is characterized by the following: Hypoperfusion – A reduction in the amount of oxygen supplied to the brain. A reduced oxygen supply causes damage to the tissue of the brain and means that the brain can no longer function properly. Immune Dysregulation [...]

Thalassemia is an inherited blood disorder in which the body makes too much hemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen. The disorder results in excessive destruction of red blood cells and anemia. Severe thalassemia can cause early death due to heart failure a. Frequent blood transfusions with therapy to remove iron from [...]

Cord blood banks cryogenically freeze the blood from the umbilical cord for possible future use against diseases developed by members of your family. A great number of serious medical conditions can already be successfully treated by this umbilical cord blood, and it is predicted that many more conditions will be be able to be cured [...]