[Bone marrow transplantation in leukemia: possibilities and problems].

At present, clinical bone marrow transplantation has reached such an advanced stage that it offers a chance of permanent cure to some patients with acute refractory leukemias. Prerequisites for successful marrow grafts are: careful histocompatibility typing of donor and host, favourable timing of the graft, which should not be performed in the absolutely terminal stages of the disease; optimum conditioning of the recipient, which should aim not only at immunosuppression to allow a marrow take but at maximum reduction of the tumor load; a well-trained team in supportive care and wide experimental and clinical experience in marrow grafting. For the time being only HL-A-identical, MLC-negative siblings or identical twins should be used as marrow donors.