Decitabine as a conditioning regimen in haploidentical stem cell transplantation for refractory acute myeloid leukaemia

Summary What is known and Objective Chemotherapy can increase treatment‐related mortality associated with future haematopoietic stem cell transplantation ( HSCT ) for patients with relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukaemia ( AML ). There is usually insufficient time to find a suitable unrelated donor for these patients. We report on the use of decitabine, a DNA methyltransferase inhibitor as a conditioning regimen for a patient undergoing HSCT . Case summary Our patient was a 21‐year‐old male diagnosed with AML ‐M1 with 84·5% blast cells and a normal karyotype. His risk stratum was intermediate, without specific mutations of FLT 3/ ITD , NPM 1, CEBPA and C‐kit . He underwent successful haploidentical HSCT using decitabine, a conditioning regimen. What is new and conclusion We present the first report of a patient with refractory AML (with 58% blast cells) treated successfully with decitabine as a conditioning regimen in haploidentical HSCT .