Bone Marrow Transplantation in Seven? -Thalassemia Major Patients in Amirkola Children Hospital of Babol, Iran (2010-2011); Case Series

Without bone marrow transplantation (BMT)، ? - thalassemia major (? -TM) patient needs regular blood transfusion. Iron deposition after blood transfusion causes many unwanted effects. BMT obviates the need for blood transfusion in? -TM. In this study، bone marrow transplantation in seven? -thalassemia major patients in Amirkola children hospital was reported. CASES: Among? -thalassemia major patients for doing BMT seven patients [4 girls (57%) and 3 boys (42%)] had human leukocyte antigen (HLA) matched donors. Mean age of patients was 10. 86±5. 58 years. Three donors were sisters، two donors were brothers، one donor was father and one donor was aunt. Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) collected from bone marrow (4=57%) and peripheral blood stem cells (PBSc) (3=42%). There was no engraftment failure or graft rejection. One patient suffered from acute graft versus-host disease (GVHD) (stage IV). Mean duration of hospitalization was 37. 71±10. 32 days. Mean duration of follow up was 353. 14±152. 133 days. At present all patients are alive، disease free and independent blood transfusion. Chimerism in all of them was more than %90 in the last assessment. The results of this study showed that all studied patients became independent to blood transfusion after BMT. There was no engraftment failure or graft rejection.