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Background: Fanconi anemia is the most common inherited bone marrow failure syndrome. HSCT remains the only curative treatment for hematological manifestations of FA. Despite restoration of long-term hematopoiesis, patients continue to remain at risk of late effects., Objectives: In our study, we aimed to reveal the problems that occur in the long-term follow-up of FA patients, and point out an ongoing need for the improvement of long-term follow-up guidelines for childhood transplant survivors with FA., Study Design: In this single centered, cross-sectional study, we analyzed the long-term outcome of 36 patients with FA according to current recommendations with a median age of 18.1 years (range: 6.1-36 years, male/female, 24/12) who underwent a HSCT at Pediatric Bone Marrow Transplantation (BMT) Unit between 1995 and 2019 and survived at least one year post-transplant., Results: The median long-term follow-up time was 8 years (range, 1-25 years). Gonadal dysfunction was detected in about 35% of our patients. 31% of the patients had hypergonadotropic hypogonadism, 4 % had hypogonadotropic hypogonadism. When the patients were evaluated for growth impairment, 7 of 12 patients who reached their final adult height and 12 of 21 patients who didn't complete their growth, had height standard deviation score below -2 SD. Three patients (9%) developed subclinical hypothyroidism, two (6%) had overt hypothyroidism and one (3%) had central hypothyroidism. Although, none of our patients fully met the criteria for metabolic syndrome, 23% of the patients had insulin resistance and 39% had dyslipidemia. Evaluation of organ dysfunctions revealed that almost 50% of the patients had obstructive and 21 % had restrictive changes in their pulmonary function tests. Hepatosteatosis was detected in 15% of the patients and mild valve dysfunction was detected in 50 % of evaluable patients. Three patients developed secondary malignancies. Squamous cell cancer developed in 2 patients and basal cell cancer in one patient., Conclusion: A risk-defined multidisciplinary approach for long-term follow up of children with FA undergoing HSCT is essential for early detection and management of late effects.

Objective: Angiogenic factors (AFs) released under endothelial stress are reflective of tissue healing, while some may also contribute to tissue damage/inflammation. We investigated whether alterations in the pre-transplant levels of AFs were associated with the risk of acute graft-versus-host disease (aGvHD)., Materials and Methods: The pre-conditioning plasma levels of angiopoietin-2 (Ang2), endoglin, and follistatin were measured for 37 patients together with inflammatory markers. The index values defined were evaluated to better identify the alterations., Results: The patients had higher pre-conditioning levels of Ang2, endoglin, and follistatin compared to controls. The patients with aGvHD had higher Ang2 index and lower albumin index scores in comparison to those without aGvHD. Multivariate analysis revealed that the pre-transplant Ang2 index was an independent risk factor for aGvHD development., Conclusion: Pre-transplant evaluation of plasma Ang2 levels along with inflammatory status even before conditioning is associated with endothelial vulnerability. The pre-transplant Ang2 index could be a promising candidate to estimate the risk of aGvHD.

Objective: Uric acid (UA), a known danger signal released from injured cells, is a valuable sign of inflammation. We aimed to evaluate the association of serum UA levels before the start of conditioning regimens with the risk of hepatic sinusoidal obstruction syndrome (SOS) development after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT)., Materials and Methods: Two hundred and twenty-two children who underwent allogeneic HSCT at the Pediatric BMT Unit of Hacettepe University between 2000 and 2014 were included in this retrospective study. Serum UA levels were measured before conditioning as an indicator of the pre-transplant inflammatory status of the patients. Patients with and without a diagnosis of SOS were compared regarding primary diagnosis, previously described risk factors for SOS, and pre-conditioning serum UA., Results: SOS was diagnosed in 42 patients who had higher pre-conditioning serum UA levels compared to those who did not. Pre-transplant serum creatinine, gamma-glutamyl transferase, bilirubin, ferritin, and C-reactive protein levels did not differ significantly among patients with and without SOS; however, serum albumin was lower in the patients who developed SOS. Receiver operating characteristic analysis revealed that a pre-conditioning UA level higher than 3.32 mg/dL was predictive of SOS. When applied to a multivariate model, only pre-conditioning UA and albumin levels remained significant risk factors for SOS (UA: odds ratio [OR], 2.54; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.26-5.12, p=0.009; albumin: OR, 0.45, 95% CI, 0.22-0.95, p=0.037)., Conclusion: Our results suggest that pre-conditioning serum UA is an independent risk factor for SOS, and it might be used as an early predictor of hepatic SOS together with previously described clinical and laboratory parameters.