The Recent Successes In Cord Blood Stem Cell Transplant

The Recent Successes In Cord Blood Stem Cell Transplant
Cord blood stem cells can treat over 75 diseases, immune
deficiencies and other conditions. More parents are banking
their newborn's cord blood as a medical insurance for the
family. Cord blood can either be stored at a private or
public cord blood bank.

Umbilical cord blood stem cells and Parkinson's disease

Umbilical cord blood stem cells have been successfully used
to treat Parkinson's disease. Although stem cells have
been used to treat Parkinson's disease abroad for some
time, it is still considered experimental and controversial
in America. The first American to undergo cord blood stem
cell treatment was Penny Thomas. She was in the advanced
stages of Parkinson and was looking for treatment options.
After attempting to contact many treatment centers, she
emailed one in China. She underwent a surgery where 3
million cord blood stem cells were injected into the
putamen part of her brain. After the surgery, her symptoms
reduced significantly and doctors are now weaning her off
of her medication.

Umbilical cord blood stem cells and leukemia

Cord blood stem cells are commonly used to treat childhood
leukemia. In recent years, adults with leukemia have been
successfully treated with transplantation of cord blood
stem cells from unrelated donors. One case is that of
Stephen Sprague who was diagnosed with Chronic Myelogenous
Leukemia (CML) in 1995. Although a normally slow moving
cancer in his case, chemotherapy only kept it in check for
17 months. The only hope was a stem cell transplant. A
matching bone marrow donor could not be found so he turned
to a new clinical trial being conducted on final stage
adult leukemia patients, using umbilical cord blood stem
cells to treat cancer. Mr. Sprague underwent the treatment
in November 1997, and has now been cancer free for over
nine years.

Umbilical cord blood stem cells and multiple sclerosis (MS)

Cord blood stem cell transplantation has given hope to
multiple sclerosis sufferers like Patricia Frost. Mrs.
Frost has suffered from MS for 14 years and has been
confined to a wheelchair for the last 10 years. She also
lost the use of her arms. Stem cell treatment was her only
hope but is not licensed in the UK and only a few private
clinics offer the treatment anywhere in the world. She
sought umbilical cord blood stem cell therapy from the
private Preventative Medicine Clinic in the Netherlands.
Within an hour of receiving the stem cell treatment, she
was able to turn her head and partially lift her arms.
These are functions that she said were previously lost.
Clinical trials are being conducted and the UK is planning
to invest 100 million pounds into this research.

In recent years, cord blood has emerged as a source for
stem cell transplantation as it contains hematopoietic stem
cells (HSCs) that can develop into red blood cells, white
blood cells and platelets. The ongoing stem cell research
for treatment of diseases is promising. Patients who suffer
from previously fatal diseases and debilitating conditions
have found hope in cord blood stem cell therapy.

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Cord blood transplant is becoming increasingly important
for treatment of life-threatening blood diseases. It is an
alternative option to marrow transplant. If you are an
expecting parent, find out why you should bank your baby's
cord blood at
http://www.storingcordblood.com/art-recent1