Introduction
Transplant-associated thrombotic microangiopathy (TA-TMA) is a rare but serious complication of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). As a part of the family of thrombotic endothelium disorders, the disease causes microangiopathic hemolytic anemia leading to microvascular thrombosis and fibrin deposition in the microvessels. Due to a lack of clear diagnostic criteria, it is difficult to determine incidence and mortality for the disease, but values are estimated to range from 3% to 39% for incidence and exceed 50% for mortality (1,2,3).
Currently, research shows that TMA is induced by endothelial cell injury which could be the result of either infection, graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), chemotherapy or radiation.
Literature demonstrates increased incidence status post allogeneic HCST when compared to its autologous counterpart ({…}4,5). While a few case studies of pediatric patients note that TA-TMA was preceded by a HHV6 infection, there is an ultimate lack of data regarding HHV6 association with TA-TMA (5). The purpose of our study is to estimate the incidence of TA-TMA in children receiving HSCT and reveal other potential risk factors and its impact on healthcare outcomes in this population.