Fatal obstructive lung disease after haploidentical sibling cord blood transplantation

We report the case of a patient with fatal obstructive lung disease after an HLA-haploidentical sibling cord blood transplant (CBT), with severe acute GVHD. A 2-year-old girl developed expiratory air trapping gradually with acute and chronic GVHD after CBT for the treatment of ALL. Anti-CMV and immunosuppressive therapy were ineffective, and the patient died of progressive respiratory acidosis. Necropsy of the lung revealed severe bronchiolitis obliterans with cytomegalic inclusion cells in the granulation tissues of the bronchiolitis. Thus, immunologic and GVHD problems can occur even in CBT.