However, preserving a newborn's cord blood can save the lives of patients with Fanconi anemia and other blood diseases. More and more expectant parents choose to donate their newborn's cord blood to registered blood banks for use in transplant therapy and research around the world. Cord Blood for Transplants Researchers have learned that cord blood may be a safer and more effective alternative to bone marrow for transplants. Since then, over 155 cord blood transplants have been performed worldwide. Cord blood contains a rich supply of stem cells.
Stem cells give rise to all other blood cells.
While abundant in cord blood, and easy to collect with no risk or discomfort to the donor, stem cells later reside in the bone marrow where they are difficult to extract. Cord blood offers other advantages over bone marrow as well. The rate of engraftment is high with cord blood, and the incidence and severity of GVHD are lower. In addition, cord blood is less likely to carry infectious agents, like viruses. Cord blood collected from any healthy newborn may later be used to transplant a patient with FA, leukemia, or other blood disease.