A single-center historical control study of eltrombopag combined with immunosuppressive therapy for severe aplastic anemia in children

Severe aplastic anemia (SAA) is caused by immune-mediated destruction. Standard immunosuppressive therapy (IST) is effective, but needs to be improved. A total of 115 patients (60 males; median age of 5.77 years and median follow-up time of 45 months) were enrolled in this historical control study. The complete response (CR) rates in the eltrombopag group were 30.3% at 3 months, 50.0% at 6 months, conpared to 8.2% at 3 months, 10.2% at 6 months in the control group. There were significant differences between the two groups at 3 months and 6 months after IST. The overall response rates in the two groups showed no significant differences during the study. There were significant differences in the times separated from granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) G-CSF, red blood cell transfusion and Platelet transfusion between the two groups. Overall survival rates were 97.0% in the eltrombopag group and 96.0% in the control group (P=0.998). In the eltrombopag group 10.2% cases relapsed compared to 4.1% in the control group (P=0.703). No case progressed to myelodysplastic syndrome or myeloid leukemia in the eltrombopag group; one patient (2.0%) progressed to myelodysplastic syndrome in the control group. Totally 11 patients (16.7%) showed myeloid gene mutations in the eltrombopag group. Event-free survival (EFS) was 66.6% in the eltrombopag group and 57.1% in the control group. There were no significant differences in EFS between the two groups (P=0.967). In the eltrombopag group the common adverse reactions were transient and reversible hyperbilirubinemia, elevated liver enzymesand hyperuricemia.