Abstract: Objective To compare the safety and near-term curative effect in liver function and prothrombin activity of autologous bone marrow stem cells and umbilical cord blood stem cells injecting through portal vein in patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis. Methods Total of 59 patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis were randomly divided into bone marrow group (injecting autologous bone marrow stem cells) and umbilical cord blood group (injeccting umbilical cord blood stem cells). The differences of symptoms, serum biochemical index and adverse events after 8 weeks in two groups were recorded and analyzed. Results All patients in two groups achieved an obviously improvement in their clinical symptoms such as fatigue and inappetence after 3 days. The difference has no significance. At eight weeks post therapy, the level of ALB was increased to (34.8 ± 6.3) g/L and (36.8 ± 8.1) g/L in bone marrow group and umbilical cord blood group, respectively. The level of PTA was increased to (54.3 ± 13.8)% and (57.0 ± 15.2)%, respectively. The above differences were not significant. The level of ALT, AST, TBil and AFP were (43.2 ± 13.8) U/L, (50.8 ± 14.2) U/L, (34.5 ± 14.7) μmol/L, (10.0 ± 3.1) μg/L in bone marrow group, respectively, and (46.3 ± 12.3) U/L, (49.1 ± 15.0) U/L, (31.4 ± 12.5) μmol/L, (8.8 ± 3.2) μg/L in umbilical cord blood group, respectively. There were not significantly different between two groups. Conclusions Injecting antologous bone marrow stem cells and umbilical cord blood stem cells through portal vein are safe and effective in treatment of patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis. The latter is better than the former, but has no difference between two groups.