- Dandoy, Christopher E;
- Rotz, Seth;
- Alonso, Priscila Badia;
- Klunk, Anna;
- Desmond, Catherine;
- Huber, John;
- Ingraham, Hannah;
- Higham, Christine;
- Dvorak, Christopher C;
- Duncan, Christine;
- Schoettler, Michelle;
- Lehmann, Leslie;
- Cancio, Maria;
- Killinger, James;
- Davila, Blachy;
- Phelan, Rachel;
- Mahadeo, Kris M;
- Khazal, Sajad;
- Lalefar, Nahal;
- Vissa, Madhav;
- Myers, Kasiani;
- Wallace, Greg;
- Nelson, Adam;
- Khandelwal, Pooja;
- Bhatla, Deepika;
- Gloude, Nicholas;
- Anderson, Eric;
- Huo, Jeffrey;
- Roehrs, Philip;
- Auletta, Jeffery J;
- Chima, Ranjit;
- Lane, Adam;
- Davies, Stella M;
- Jodele, Sonata
Transplant-associated thrombotic microangiopathy (TA-TMA) is a severe complication of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). A single-center prospective screening study has shown that the incidence of TA-TMA is much higher than prior retrospective studies that did not systematically screen. These data have not been replicated in a multicenter study. Our objective was to determine the incidence and risk factors for TA-TMA and compare outcomes of pediatric HSCT patients with and without TA-TMA. Patients were prospectively screened for TA-TMA at participating centers using a simple to implement and inexpensive strategy from the start of the preparative regimen through day +100. TA-TMA was diagnosed if ≥4 of 7 laboratory/clinical markers diagnostic for TA-TMA were present concurrently or if tissue histology showed TA-TMA. A total of 614 patients (359 males; 58%) received prospective TA-TMA screening at 13 pediatric centers. TA-TMA was diagnosed in 98 patients (16%) at a median of 22 days (interquartile range, 14-44) posttransplant. Patients with TA-TMA had significantly increased bloodstream infections (38% [37/98] vs 21% [107/51], P ≤ .001), mean total hospitalization days (68; 95% confidence interval [CI], 63-74 vs 43; 95% CI, 41-45; P ≤ .001), and number of days spent in the intensive care unit (10.1; 95% CI, 6.4-14; vs 1.6; 95% CI, 1.1-2.2; P ≤ .001) in the first 100 days after HSCT compared with patients without TA-TMA. Overall survival was significantly higher in patients without TA-TMA (93%; 490/516) compared with patients with TA-TMA (78%; 76/98) (P ≤ .001). These data support the need for systematic screening for TA-TMA and demonstrate the feasibility and efficacy of an easy to implement strategy to do so.