[Rationale and methods for high dose chemotherapy in oncology]

Waiting for a new, highly effective cytotoxic drugs it is necessary to improve antineoplastic treatment using presently existing drugs and methods. Chemosensitive tumors should be treated with intensive, short-lasting courses of the induction as well as of the adjuvant chemotherapy. Chemotherapy delay, dose reduction, unproper therapy regimen increases risk of the development of drug-resistance and treatment failure. Autologous hemopoietic cell transplantation allows cytostatics dose escalation (high-dose chemotherapy, HDCT) with an acceptable non-hematological toxicity. HDCT with autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (auto-PBSCT) is increasingly used. Auto-PBSCT has the same efficacy as autologous bone marrow transplantation (ABMT), but it is a safer procedure, allows more rapid hemopoietic recovery and shorter hospitalization.