Description: FRIDAY, June 8 (HealthDay News) -- Transplanted blood cells from umbilical cords appear to give better results than the bone marrow transplants that have been standard for leukemia patients, a new study finds.

"From my point of view, it now demonstrates that cord blood can be considered a first-line therapy and not an afterthought," said lead researcher Dr. John E. Wagner, director of the bone marrow transplant program at the University of Minnesota.

His team published its findings in the June 9 issue of The Lancet.

One way to treat various leukemias is to wipe out the old blood cell system and replace it with a new one via transplant. This study of 785 children under 16 who got such transplants found essentially equal five-year survival rates for the 503 patients who underwent transplantation with umbilical cord blood and the 282 who got bone marrow transplants.

That held true even when the transplanted blood cord cells did not match the immunological system of the recipie