Severe aplastic anemia following living-donor liver transplantation for fluminant hepatitis

Abstract

We report a case of a 15-year-old girl with severe aplastic anemia who underwent orthotopic liver transplantation 5 years ago for fulminant hepatic failure during the course of immunodeficiency of unknown etiology. She previously exhibited similar immunodeficiency and experienced recurrent viral infections. She developed jaundice at 9 years of age and was diagnosed with fulminant hepatitis. One month later, she underwent living donor liver transplantation, with the donor being her father. Five years after the liver transplant, pancytopenia was noted; she did not respond to treatment with increasing doses of tacrolimus/prednisone and administration of granulocyte-colony stimulating factor. Bone marrow biopsy was performed, and severe aplastic anemia was diagnosed. Six years after the liver transplant, she underwent bone marrow transplantation (BMT), with the donor being her HLA-matched sibling. However, she developed liver dysfunction with recovery of white blood cells. She developed sepsis, which eventually led to her death on day 30 after BMT.