Second allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation: a treatment for graft failure

We evaluated the results in 20 recent patients treated with a second hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) after graft failure (GF). There were 10 children < 18 yr of age. Ten patients had a non-malignant disease, and the other 10 had a malignant disease. In most of the transplantations, fludarabine-based reduced intensity conditioning (RIC) was given. Bone marrow was given to 11 patients, peripheral blood system cell (PBSC) in seven and cord blood to two patients. For the second transplantation (n = 20), a new donor was used in nine cases, while the initial donor was used in 11 transplants. Eight patients (40%) suffered from a second GF. Five of these patients were treated with a third HSCT. The probability of survival was 65% one yr and 60% three yr after the second HSCT. No difference in survival was found between patients transplanted with a new donor (56%) compared to those using the original donor (64%). The three-yr survival was 70% for children compared to 50% for adults (p = ns). Patients with a non-malignant disorder showed a three-yr survival of 90% compared to 20% in patients with a malignant disease (p = 0.005). We concluded that re-transplantation using RIC is a valid option for GF, especially in patients with non-malignant disorders.