Q: Is it possible to cure membrano-proliferative glomerulonephritis in a 5-year old child by cord blood transfusion from a normal sibling? Is any research being done on this?

A:Idiopathic Membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis (MPGN) is a diagnosis which almost invariably leads to chronic renal failure. It carries slightly better outlook in children than it does in adults. Various therapies have been tried including steroids. Although, exchange transfusion has been tried successfully in other forms of immune-complex glomerulonephritis but specific use of cord-transfusion to treat MPGN has not been reported anywhere in medical literature.