All about Bone Marrow and Cord Blood Transplants

For the treatment of diseases such as leukemia, lymphoma and many other diseases which can pose as threats to survival, the umbilical cord blood plays a vital role in healing them. A cord blood transplant is a viable option for the treatment of any such disease.

The flexible tissue which is located in the interior of the bones which is hollow is known as the bone marrow. Marrows produce new blood cells in adults. A bone marrow transplant provides one with healthy bone marrow stem cells. The process involves replacement of the bone marrow which does not work with the one that functions properly. Cord blood transplant is widely chosen over bone marrow transplantation.

Cord blood traces its root to the umbilical cord at the time of the birth of a newborn child, after the latter has been detached from the baby. The primary reason for the collection of cord blood is because it contains the very useful stem cells, which includes hematopoietic cells or cells that are capable of forming blood components in the human body. Some of the blood remains on the umbilical cord portion remaining attached to it. This additional blood is no longer required by the nascent baby. Cord blood consists of all the vital blood elements including the red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets and plasma. Cord blood is therefore used for transplantation instead of bone marrow.

Cord blood transplantation is chosen and preferred because of the following reasons:

However, there are some drawbacks of choosing cord blood transplant as well. For instance, the number of blood forming cells in a cord blood unit may be lesser as compared to the patient size. Moreover, the engrafting time is longer.

Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that umbilical cord blood stem cell transplant is more widely accepted as compared to the bone marrow transplantations. One more reason for this is that the problem of graft versus host disease has lesser probability in cord blood transplant, i.e., the transplanted blood do not usually attack the recipient’s body. Thus, all the above reasons make umbilical cord transplants potent resources for transplantation therapies and add to their wide usage.