Autotransplantation for Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia

Alternate treatment strategies in the management of chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) are essential if we are to impact on the ultimately fatal outcome for the majority of patients with this disease who are presently ineligible for allogeneic or syngeneic bone marrow transplantation. One such strategy is that of autologous stem cell rescue after high-dose therapy. Two essential aspects for success of this approach are the eradication of residual disease in the patient by myeloablative therapy and the eradication of disease in the collected stem cell product which is reinfused for restoration of hematopoiesis.