Early clinical indicators of transplant-associated thrombotic microangiopathy in pediatric neuroblastoma patients undergoing auto-SCT

Bone Marrow Transplant. 2011 May;46(5):682-9. doi: 10.1038/bmt.2010.182. Epub 2010 Aug 9.

Abstract

Patients undergoing auto-SCT for neuroblastoma present a unique population to study transplant-associated thrombotic microangiopathy (TA-TMA), due to standardized chemotherapy and later exposure to radiation and cis-retinoic acid (cis-RA). We retrospectively analyzed 20 patients after auto-SCT to evaluate early clinical indicators of TA-TMA. A total of 6 patients developing TA-TMA (30% prevalence) were compared with 14 controls. Four of six patients were diagnosed with TA-TMA by 25 days after auto-SCT. Compared with controls, TA-TMA patients had higher average systolic and diastolic blood pressure levels during high-dose chemotherapy and developed hypertension by day 13 after auto-SCT. Proteinuria was a significant marker for TA-TMA, whereas blood and platelet transfusion requirements were not. Serum creatinine did not differ between groups post transplant. However, patients with TA-TMA had a 60% decrease in renal function from baseline by nuclear glomerular filtration rate, compared with a 25% decrease in those without TA-TMA (P=0.001). There was no TA-TMA-related mortality. Significant complications included end-stage renal disease (n=1) and polyserositis (n=3). Patients with TA-TMA were unable to complete cis-RA therapy after auto-SCT. We suggest that careful attention to blood pressure and urinalysis will assist in the early diagnosis of TA-TMA, whereas serum creatinine seems to be an insensitive marker for this condition.

MeSH terms

  • Antihypertensive Agents / therapeutic use
  • Blood Pressure
  • Case-Control Studies
  • Child, Preschool
  • Female
  • Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation / adverse effects*
  • Humans
  • Hypertension / drug therapy
  • Hypertension / etiology
  • Male
  • Neuroblastoma / surgery*
  • Proteinuria / etiology
  • Retrospective Studies
  • Thrombotic Microangiopathies / complications
  • Thrombotic Microangiopathies / diagnosis*
  • Thrombotic Microangiopathies / etiology
  • Transplantation Conditioning
  • Transplantation, Autologous

Substances

  • Antihypertensive Agents