SCIENCE / MEDICINE : Rare Marrow Transplant Tried

In the first surgery of its kind in the United States and only the third such procedure ever, doctors last week attempted a bone marrow transplant into a 6-year-old boy using umbilical cord blood from his infant brother. Eric Miller of McFarland, Wis., was reported in good condition at Children’s Hospital after the surgery, doctors said.

The boy, who suffers from a rare disorder known as Fanconi’s anemia, was given blood collected from the umbilical cord of his brother Ethan at the time of his birth six months ago.

Doctors said the blood is rich in the kind of cells that cause bone marrow to grow. The blood, which was frozen after it was collected, was dripped into the boy’s heart through a tube.

If the procedure works, the cells will replace the child’s weakened bone marrow, doctors said. They said the procedure has been performed twice previously in France, but never before in the United States.