A team of doctors at Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children, Crumlin has successfully carried out Ireland's first umbilical cord blood transplant to help treat a one-year-old infant diagnosed with a rare form of leukaemia. The procedure is similar to a bone marrow transplant, but uses blood from the umbilical cord of a newly born infant as a source of stem cells.
When transplanted these cells are capable of regenerating a completely new blood system in the recipient. No suitable family donor was available, but a match was found on an international registry by the BTSB, and Dr Aengus O'Marcaigh successfully completed the transplantation. The patient is doing well but will require close observation for at least a year, according to Dr O'Marcaigh.