The Advantages of Cord Blood Transplants Over Bone Marrow

If you've ever known someone with leukemia who's had to wait for a bone marrow transplant, you know how agonizing it was for not only the leukemia patient, but also for his family and friends. And, there was the fear that the transplant would not be successful.

But thanks to recent studies, receiving a bone marrow transplant is not the only means of helping leukemia patients. Recently, the blood from newborns' umbilical cords has been used, proving to be a better choice. Blood found in the umbilical cord of newborns have the same cells as bone marrow and can be applied to a number of diseases. Besides leukemia, other life-threatening illnesses include lymphomas and forms of anemia. What's more, research is also being done using cord blood in the treatment of breast cancer, lupus, multiple scleros, HIV, diabetes, and other diseases.

Using cord blood from newborns' umbilical cords has many more advantages than bone marrow. Here are a few of the benefits of using umbilical cord blood rather than bone marrow.

A shorter wait----Unlike waiting for a bone marrow donor, leukemia patients doesn't have to wait from anywhere to 6 months up to a year. Tragically, many patients have died before a donor has been found. About 75% do not have a relative that matches them for a bone marrow transplant. Finding a compatible match for bone marrow is much more difficult . Ccord blood doesn't require as much tissue matching, making rejection of placental cells not as strict. The average wait for core blood is about three weeks as opposed to 6-months to a year (and often even longer) when waiting for a donor for bone marrow.

No pain for the donor---Anyone who volunteers to give bone marrow is an unselfish person, who's also courageous. The donor must undergo a painful operation where not one, but several injections are given through the rear of the pelvic bone. On the other hand, thousands of umbilical cords are discarded each day, shortly after they're delivered from their mothers' wombs.

Greater regeneration rate---Stems cells from a newborn's umbilical cord have a much greater capability of regeneration. This is because the cord blood is brand new---untouched by age and disease---unlike stems cells from bone marrow. It's much saver, too. Because blood from a newborn's umbilical cord is primitive, the odds are much lower that cord blood cells will invade the recipient's body, resulting in Graft Versus Host Disease (GVHD).

Cheaper---Cord blood transplants, rather than using bone marrow, is much cheaper, as well as easier to obtain. What's more, obtaining cord blood involves less follow up because there's a reduced chance of graft versus host disease. While bone marrow treatment can cost as much as $300,000 and more, cord blood treatment are about one third or more cheaper and don't require much follow-up, further reducing the expense.

For this reason, many parents are banking their newborns' umbilical cords. This gives families some insurance just in case they encounter future diseases. If you're pregnant or plan to be pregnant, discuss the option of banking your baby's umbilical shortly after he (or she) is born. It just may save a life someday.