Assessing the Efficacy of Alkylating Agent Regimens in the Treatment of Infantile Malignant Osteopetrosis: Cyclophosphamide, Busulfan, or Thiotepa

• Published in: Curēus (Palo Alto, CA) CA), 2022-07, Vol.14 (7), p.e26600-e26600
• Main Authors: Wagh, Himanshu, Arif, Amber, Reddy, Akshay J, Tabaie, Ethan, Shekhar, Aditya, Min, Mildred, Nawathey, Neel, Bachir, Mark, Brahmbhatt, Hetal
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Allergy/Immunology; Antigens; Bone marrow; Confidence intervals; Disease; Fractures; Immune system; Meta-analysis; Mutation; Orthopedics; Pathology; Patients
• ISSN: 2168-8184; 2168-8184
• DOI: 10.7759/cureus.26600

Infantile malignant osteopetrosis is a debilitating disease that requires total bone marrow irradiation and transplant procedures for patients to survive. The major complication of this procedure is graft vs host disease (GVHD), followed by infections and end organ toxicity. Therefore, current research efforts into treatment mainly aim to reduce GVHD while limiting infections and organ toxicity. Different regimens of alkylating agents have been used to try to reduce GVHD. The most common regimen is cyclophosphamide (Cy) with busulfan (Bu), followed by Cy with Bu and thiotepa (Thio). This meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the efficacy of different treatments by comparing mortality and morbidity causes and rates across groups. The mean one-year survival rate for the Cy, Bu, Thio regimen studies in the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) unmatched group (45.01%) was statistically lower than the one-year survival rate for the studies using just a Cy, Bu regimen (70.8%) in the HLA unmatched studies (p