title: Rare complications after second hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for thalassemia major.
abstract: We describe an 11-year-old girl with thalassemia major who underwent a second hematopoietic stem cell transplantation from a matched related donor and who subsequently developed posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorder complicated by severe ascending paralysis resembling Guillian-Barré syndrome. Six months later she developed a massive pericardial effusion. She received a multimodal treatment for these complications and currently, 18 months after transplantation, she is in a good clinical condition, is transfusion independent, with no evidence of graft-versus-host disease and off all treatment. This case highlights the dilemma surrounding second hematopoietic stem cell transplantations in hemoglobinopathies and the need for a careful, well informed, and collaborative decision-making process by patients, families, and medical professionals.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Hadassah Hebrew University Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel. ayanir@hadassah.org.il
authors.forename: Asaf
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yanir
authors.forename: Ido
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Yatsiv
authors.forename: Jacques
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Braun
authors.forename: Amir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zilkha
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Brooks
authors.forename: Dalia
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bouhanna
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Weintraub
authors.forename: Polina
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Stepensky
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D018380:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006801:Humans; D019172:Transplantation Conditioning; D017086:beta-Thalassemia / Q000601:surgery*