A research team from Duke University has released a report that says unrelated umbilical cord blood transplants for myelodysplastic syndrome in children result in a three-year event-free survival of 61%. The details of this study appeared in the August 2009 issue of Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation.

The source of stems cells is usually from HLA-matched related or unrelated donors. For children without a suitable donor, stem cells from unrelated umbilical cord blood look to be an acceptable alternative.

The current study reports the outcomes of 23 children who received umbilical cord blood transplants for advanced MDS. All patients were treated with myeloablative regimens, which involved total body irradiation in 78%. Event-free survival was 70% at one year and 61% at three years. Better outcomes were associated with ages under 11 years and weight less than 38 kg.