Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of haploidentical (from family member donors) hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) for children with hematologic malignancies.
Methods: Fifty-eight children under fourteen years with hematological malignancies underwent haploidentical HSCT. All patients had poor-risk clinical or cytogenetic features and reclassified into high-risk and standard-risk groups. Transplantation outcomes were analyzed.
Results: Of fifty-eight patient/donor pairs, seven (12.1%) were mismatched in two HLA loci, twenty (34.5%) in three loci, and thirty-one (53.4%) in four loci. Follow-ups were performed for a median of 1,663 (752-2,664) days after transplantation. All patients achieved stable engraftments. The cumulative incidence of acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) of grades 2-4 was (54.8+/-7.6)%, and that of grades 3-4 was (11.4+/-4.8)%. The cumulative incidence of chronic GVHD was (45.6+/-7.8)% for the total and (19.6+/-6.5)% for the extensive. Thirty-eight patients survived with a 2-year actual overall rate of survival 59.0% and 78.9% in the high-risk and standard-risk group, respectively. The 3-year probability of LFS was (58.6+/-8.0)% and (68.4+/-10.7)%, respectively.
Conclusion: The results encourage extending haploidentical HSCT without T-cell depletion treatments to children with an indication for transplantation.