[High-dose chemotherapy followed by hematopoietic stem cell transplantation as therapy for systemic rheumatic autoimmune diseases].

Remissions of autoimmune diseases can be accomplished in animals by myeloablative chemotherapy followed by allogeneic or autologous bone marrow transplantation. Remissions of autoimmune diseases have been reported in patients with concomitant malignancies for which they were treated with myeloablative chemotherapy followed by stem cell transplantation. Survival of patients with systemic rheumatic autoimmune disease is reduced. Since transplantation related mortality after autologous stem cell transplantation is less than 5%, this treatment becomes a possibility for patients with severe systemic rheumatic autoimmune disease, such as systemic sclerosis.