[Autologous bone marrow transplantation in children with malignant diseases. Bone marrow harvest and procedure-related toxicity].

The aim of this paper was to present the results of bone marrow harvest followed by cryopreservation in 22 children with various malignant diseases, and the clinical course of autologous bone marrow transplantation (ABMT) performed in 10 children (three with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), three with acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML) and four neuroblastoma stage IV (NB)). In 20/22 children the harvested bone marrow contained a sufficient number of granulocyte-macrophage-colonyforming units (GM-CFU) for later marrow reinfusion. Hematological reconstitution was obtained in all 10 children who underwent ABMT. No child died of toxicity. The median time to neutrophil count > 0.5 x 10(9)/l, thrombocyte count > 50 x 10(9)/l and to discharge from hospital were 34, 49 and 29 days respectively. Five children are alive with no evidence of active disease 11-21 months after ABMT. Five children have suffered relapse and have died. It was concluded that sufficient amounts of precursor bone marrow cells may be harvested in children during a pause in cystostatic therapy. The acute toxicity of ABMT in children with malignant diseases was only moderate.