ABSTRACT
Introduction:Sinusoidal obstruction syndrome (SOS) is one of the complications of allogeneic stem cell transplantation (allo-SCT). Defibrotide(DF) is used effectively in SOS prophylaxis and treatment. Graft versus host disease (GVHD) is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in allo-SCT. Here, we retrospectively investigated the effect of DF on the development of GVHD in these patients.Methods:We evaluated 81 allo-transplanted patients due to various diagnoses (benign or malignant), retrospectively. Thirty-four patients used DF as prophylaxis while 47 patients did not receive it. Acute and chronic GVHD assessments were performed at +30/100thday and throughout the life of the patients, respectively. Results: Acute GVHDwas more common with DF use (82% vs 61%). There was no statistical significance in terms of the effect on chronic GVHD. We observed that one patient in the non-DF groupdeveloped SOS.Conclusions: DF may be beneficial to prevent acute GVHD. However, we observed that GVHD and mortality were more common in patients using DF. This is probably due to the similarity of high-risk criteria between GVHD and SOS. We have not found a significant association between defibrotide use and the development of chronic GVHD.