Science / Medicine : New Treatment Corrects Anemia

Doctors corrected a 5-year-old boy’s anemia by using a new technique in which he received blood from his younger sister’s umbilical cord to generate a new blood-forming system. The case, reported last week, represents the first time the approach has been used in a human and suggests that the approach could offer an effective alternative to standard bone marrow transplants, researchers said.

“It is quite exciting,” said Dr. Edward Boyce of the University of Arizona in Tucson, who developed the technique.

“This is the first time a person had had their entire blood-forming system replaced by cord blood,” Boyce said. “There is no reason why it should not be applicable in any of the present applications for which bone marrow transplantation is performed.”

Bone marrow transplants are used to treat a variety of illnesses, most commonly leukemia. The transplants involve destroying the patient’s faulty bone marrow with radiation and replacing it with donated healthy marrow, usually from a sibling, which produces healthy blood cells.

Boyce said experiments in animals showed umbilical cord blood contains early blood cells that can also form the basis of bone marrow.