High-dose chemotherapy with autologous bone marrow transplantation.

High-dose chemotherapy using drugs with predominant marrow toxicity and autologous bone marrow support has been investigated in a number of tumor types. High response rates are uniform and complete responses are also high; but long-term disease-free survival is occasional. This review discusses those tumor types where patients treated with this approach have survived disease free for several years. Also discussed is what other tumor types and prognostic subgroups of those tumors might benefit therapeutically from high-dose cytotoxic intensification with autologous bone marrow support or at least have this approach considered as the first alternative for initial relapse.