Abstract

Six children with myelodysplastic syndrome underwent allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) from their HLA-identical siblings. Ages ranged from six to 16 years. French-American British (FAB) diagnosis was refractory anemia with excess blasts (RAEB) in three, RAEB in transformation (RAEB-t) in one and chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML) in two cases. Two patients had progressed to leukemia before BMT. All patients received busulfan and cyclophosphamide as a conditioning regimen. Antithymocyte globulin (ATG) was administered to two of them due to the multiple transfusion history. Graft versus host disease (GvHD) prophylaxis consisted of cyclosporine-methotrexate. Engraftment was documented in all patients except one who underwent a second infusion of bone marrow cells. She died in the early post-transplant period with pancytopenia and veno-occlusive disease of the liver. Two patients died from disease recurrence. Three patients are alive > 12 months post-transplant, two are in remission and one just relapsed at +16 months and is now being prepared for a second bone marrow transplant. The only significant factor for favorable outcome was short duration between diagnosis to transplant in the two patients in remission.

How to cite

1.
Uçkan D, Cetin M, Hiçsönmez G, Tezcan I, Tuncer AM. Allogeneic bone marrow transplantation for children with myelodysplastic syndrome. Turk J Pediatr 2000; 42: 192-197.