Peripheral blood stem cell transplantation - Current status and issues -

Autologous peripheral blood stem celt transplantation (auto-PBSCT) has been increasingly used in the treatment of malignant disease, and has begun to replace autologous bone marrow transplantation (autoBMT) because of rapid engraftment and low transplant-related mortality. Some clinical studies have demonstrated the safety and efficacy of high-dose chemotherapy followed by auto-PBSCT for the treatment of acute myelogenous leukemia, malignant lymphoma, multiple myeloma, and solid tumor such as breast cancer. Recently, allogeneic PBSCT (allo-PBSCT) s being evaluated as an alternative to alloBMT. Recent studies suggest that allo-PBSCT results in more rapid engraftment without an apparent increase in acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) as compared to bone marrow, but further studies will be required to assess its efficacy.