Pseudoautologous blood stem cell transplantation for refractory chronic graft-versus-host disease

A female patient with AML received an allogeneic BMT from her brother. She experienced two relapses managed with chemotherapy and donor leukocyte infusions. The patient subsequently developed extensive therapy-refractory chronic GVHD. Pseudoautologous blood stem cell transplantation was performed as a salvage treatment for chronic GVHD. Her blood stem cells were easily mobilized with cyclophosphamide and G-CSF. The conditioning regimen was well tolerated and consisted of 200 mg/kg cyclophosphamide and horse-derived antithymocyte globulin. A total of 4.03 × 10⁶/kg CD34⁺ cells were infused and hematological recovery was rapid. Chronic GVHD improved with the ability to taper steroids. Nine months post transplantation the patient died from leukemia.