Successful management with urgent haploidentical-peripheral blood stem cell transplantation for a patient with severe aplastic anaemia who developed disseminated fungal infection following immunosuppressive therapy

EJHaem. 2024 Jul 17;5(5):1072-1075. doi: 10.1002/jha2.917. eCollection 2024 Oct.

Abstract

Urgent haploidentical haematopoietic cell transplantation may be considered in cases of severe aplastic anaemia (SAA) without a human leukocyte antigen-matched donor and suffering from severe infection. However, deciding on allogeneic transplantation in the setting of active systemic infection is challenging due to poor outcomes. This report presents a case of disseminated Magnusiomyces capitatus infection in a 5-year-old male who underwent immunosuppressive therapy for hepatitis-associated SAA. To address the critical situation, granulocyte transfusion was promptly administered from the patient's mother, followed by unmanipulated haploidentical peripheral blood stem cell transplantation from the patient's father with posttransplant cyclophosphamide, ultimately resulting in successful rescue.

Keywords: aplastic anaemia; fungal infection; haploidentical peripheral blood stem cell transplantation.