[In vitro granulocyte colony formation in children with neuroblastoma (author's transl)].

In vitro granulocyte colony formation has been studied using the methylcellulose system in 22 children with neuroblastoma, 13 of them having bone marrow invasion. Only one third exhibited normal results. There were various disturbances of granulopoiesis in vitro: colony forming cells were decreased or increased and in the amplification compartment either an ineffective leucopoiesis or an increase in the number of mitosis was present. The abnormalities are not correlated to bone marrow invasion.