It is a well know fact that we live in the age of technology. It seems that with the help of it scientist and doctors have come up with one of the most ingenuous ways of fighting the disease. A team of people lead by Mary Laughlin has shown the world that by using an umbilical cord transplant of blood, immediately after the patient has gone through quite severe doses of chemo therapy or radiation, about one third of the people showed a remarkable recovery. This would have never been possible in other cases, with other treatments.

This was an actual alternative to the bone marrow transplant. Because of cases of mismatches between patient and possible donors, doctors thought of the idea of using cord blood for transfer which is very rich in stem cells. The success was immediate. The thins is that this is the a great alternative for patients with leukemia because the blood that is used for the transplant does not have to be an exact match to be effective ( as in the cases of the bone marrow transplant).

The actual way that this blood is collected is actually very simple and risk free for everybody. The blood is retrieved from the fresh placenta of a mother that has just given birth to a child. This way the blood is saved after this being frozen and stored for safe keeping. The stem cells that can be found in the umbilical cord are actually immature blood cells that have yet to grow in either a red blood cell a white cell or a platelet. This stem cells can be used after a case of chemo or radiation therapy. They are inserted in to the bone marrow of the patient so that the normal functions of producing normal healthy blood cells can begin again at full potential.

The fact is that the treatment was used intensively on children, because of the fact that they are not yet matured and that production of certain cells in their bodies is much more easy to do then in grown ups. For them creating a whole new immune system was actually quite easy. In the cases of older people usage of the treatment was not yet done because certainty of a good result did not exist. But, still, after trying it on grown ups too results have been found to be very impressive. By only using a small quantity like 2 ounces of cord blood, the sick body can regenerate its immune system. The best thing about it was the fact that the blood didn't necessarily have to be a perfect match with the one of the donor.

A lot of work is still being done in this field and results are beginning to be more and more interesting.