[Treatment of stage IV neuroblastoma with high-dose melphalan and autologous bone marrow transplantation following in vitro preliminary treatment of the bone marrow with the active cyclophosphamide derivative Asta Z-7654].

The case of a 4 year 8 months old boy with neuroblastoma of unknown primary, metastatic to the bone and to the bone marrow is presented. After achieving a partial remission with six cycles of conventional chemotherapy, the patient was given supraconventional chemotherapy (melphalan 220 mg/m2 bolus i.v.) in an effort to eliminate residual disease. Prior to the administration of the drug, 560 cc of autologous bone marrow, morphologically free of tumor was harvested (total 110 X 10(8) nucleated cells) and concentrated to a mononuclear cell fraction with a total of 10 X 10(8) cells. After in vitro purging with the stable metabolite of 4-hydroperoxycyclophosphamide ASTA Z 7654 (40 micrograms/2 X 10(7) mononuclear cells/ml), the mononuclear cell suspension was retransfused 10 hours following the application of high dose melphalan. Hemopoietic reconstitution was delayed with a platelet count reaching 70,000/microliter only after seven months. At the time of this writing (20 months after diagnosis and 16 months after autologous bone marrow transplantation) there is no evidence for active disease according to the bone scan and multiple bone marrow biopsies. In view of the dismal prognosis of patients with neuroblastoma, stage IV it is recommended that further patients should be treated with a slightly modified protocol of the cooperative austrian neuroblastoma study.