Success of allogeneic marrow transplantation for children with severe aplastic anaemia

Summary Allogeneic marrow transplantation offers curative therapy for children with severe aplastic anaemia (SAA). We report the outcomes of 148 children with SAA who received human leucocyte antigen (HLA)‐matched related marrow grafts between 1971 and 2010. Patients were divided into three groups, reflecting changes in conditioning and graft‐versus‐host disease (GVHD) prophylaxis regimens that occurred over time. Patients in Group 1 were conditioned with cyclophosphamide (CY; 200 mg/kg) followed by ‘long' (102 d) methotrexate (MTX). Patients in Groups 2 and 3 received CY alone (Group 2) or combined with anti‐thymocyte globulin (Group 3) followed by ‘short’ (days 1, 3, 6, and 11) MTX and ciclosporin (until day 180). With a median follow‐up of 25 years, the 5‐year survivals were 66%, 95%, and 100% for Groups 1, 2, and 3, respectively (overall P