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Chemotherapy and Cord Blood Transplant in Children and Young Adults with Blood Cancers or Non-malignant Disorders

Trial Status: active

This phase II trial studies the effect of chemotherapy and a cord blood transplant in children and young adults with hematologic malignancies or non-malignant diseases. Chemotherapy drugs, such as clofarabine, fludarabine, and busulfan, work in different ways to stop the growth of cancer cells, either by killing the cells, by stopping them from dividing, or by stopping them from spreading. Before receiving stem cells, the standard process, called cytoreduction, is to receive high doses of chemotherapy. This helps to make room in the bone marrow for new blood stem cells to grow, helps prevent the body from rejecting the transplanted cells, and helps kill any cancer cells that are in the body. This is called a conditioning regimen. However, high doses of chemotherapy can have serious side effects. This study may help researchers learn whether combining the chemotherapy drugs clofarabine, fludarabine, and busulfan is a safe and effective way to reduce the side effects from receiving a conditioning regimen in children and young adults receiving cord blood transplants.