Can leukemia be cured with umbilical cord blood?
Disease description:
A child in my neighbor’s family has been diagnosed with leukemia. I heard that cord blood can be used for treatment—can leukemia be cured with cord blood?
Doctor's answer (1)
Dr. Li Man
Leukemia can generally be cured using umbilical cord blood. Cord blood is rich in hematopoietic stem cells, which possess strong regenerative capacity and rapid proliferation ability. Therefore, cord blood is commonly used for stem cell transplantation.
Cord blood transplantation offers several advantages, including a higher probability of HLA matching and lower incidence of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). If no suitable matched sibling or unrelated donor is available, cord blood stem cells may still be used for treatment.
