Umbilical cord blood contains hematopoietic stem cells that can be used in bone marrow transplants for treat blood disorders and blood cancers. There were more than 25,000 transplants performed using umbilical cord blood (UCB) and the data they reported that there are fewer complications when UCB is used; especially, decreased graft rejection and less graft disease against the host.
There are studies that show that the use of umbilical cord blood unit that does not correspond to the antigen HLA provides equivalent survival rates compared to the use of a bone marrow completely matched unit for the treatment of leukemia. This is important because it is easier for a patient to find a partially matched UCB and a fully matched bone bone.
Recently, a Japanese study has determined that the cord blood is beneficial in the treatment of Myleodysplastic syndromes (MDS). The study notes that MDS patients who received a transplant UCB had similar survival rates to those who receieved HLA-match not bone marrow transplants.
http://www.mdsbeacon.com/news/2011/10/28/umbilical-cord-blood-transplantation-appears-to-be-a-good-option-for-mds-patients- without-a-matched- bone marrow donor /