Unrelated Donor Transplant Versus Immune Therapy in Pediatric Severe Aplastic Anemia

A major challenge in treating pediatric Severe Aplastic Anemia (SAA) is the determination of best primary therapy for patients who lack a fully matched related donor for HSCT. Good survival outcomes have been seen with IST, but initial and late failures, CSA dependence, persistent cytopenias and secondary Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS) / Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) in a portion of patients leave considerable room for improvement. MUD HSCT survival in SAA has markedly improved, but a direct comparison of this approach with IST is necessary to determine whether this approach is feasible and will lead to better Event Free Survival. This trial will address the feasibility of randomization, test whether patients can be evaluated in a timely fashion and safely begin therapy with MUD HSCT or IST, and give a preliminary assessment of the safety of up-front MUD HSCT. If successful, this trial will lead to a future prospective trial comparing directly IST to MUD HSCT in this disease.