Until now bone marrow transplants were the standard recommended medical procedure for treatment of various life threatening ailments. With the emergence of cord blood stem cell banking, it has been proven beyond dispute that cord blood stem cells are the preferred source of stem cells today for reasons stated below.

a) Graft vs. host disease: GVHD is a serious, life-threatening immune response to blood transplants, which can be fatal for up to 40% of patients who contract GVHD. Since cord blood is more primitive and therefore more 'forgiving', the cells found in cord blood that make up the recipient's new immune system are less likely to attack the recipient's body. This means a lower incidence of GVHD for cord blood transplants.

b) HLA Matching: For a successful transplant, there is a list of criteria that has to be matched. Since the cord blood stem cells are younger, the HLA matching does not have to be perfect. This means that a broader range of recipients can be treated, may be within the family with cord blood with lesser chances of the recipient getting GVHD.

c) Rich source of Stem Cells: Cord blood is found to contain 10 times more stem cells than an equally sized portion of bone marrow.

d) Regenerative Source: Since cord blood stem cells are younger, they have better proliferative properties - that is, they are able to regenerate more and faster than bone marrow stem cells.

e) Availability: It is found that 75% of people requiring stem cells do not have a matching relative and 70% of them are unable to find a matching donor. Cord blood is a readily available source of stem cells since the stored cord blood is available at notice to be used for a transplant, especially in the case of private cord blood banking.

f) Pain: Bone marrow harvesting is an invasive and painful procedure while cord blood extraction is quick, painless and harmless to both mother and baby.

Scientific research with stem cells now provides clinicians a potential stem cell therapeutic option in the form of mesenchymal stem cells.