Bone marrow transplantation for hepatitis-associated aplastic anemia.

Five patients with hepatitis-associated aplastic anemia were transplanted with HLA-identical, mixed lymphocyte culture-compatible sibling marrow. One patient who had suffered from severe chronic graft-versus-host disease died from intracranial bleeding at 42 months following the transplant. The other four patients are surviving from 15 to 54 months after transplant with a median follow-up of 21 months. Previous hepatic damage from viral hepatitis and liver function abnormalities existing at the time of grafting do not appear to increase the risk of hepatic venocclusive disease or the side effects of ciclosporin in patients with hepatitis-associated aplastic anemia.