Autotransplants in leukaemia

With bone marrow autotransplants, favourable results are reported in subjects with leukaemia in first and second remission but not in those with advanced disease. Whether autotransplants are equivalent or superior to other therapies such as chemotherapy and allogeneic transplants is uncertain, since prospective trials are not reported and data analysis is confounded by selection of subjects and time-censoring. Major problems of autotransplants include difficulty in eradicating leukaemia in the subject, lack of the graft-versus-leukaemia effect associated with allotransplants, and reinfusion of leukaemia cells.