[Autologous bone marrow transplantation in solid tumors in children]

Seven children with advanced solid tumors (2 rhabdomyosarcomas, 2 Ewing's sarcomas, 1 astrocytoma, 1 T cell lymphoma and 1 neuroblastoma) received high dose chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy followed by autologous bone marrow transplantation. Four patients achieved complete remissions, two had partial remissions, and one was no response. Side effect of autologous bone marrow transplantation was few compared with that of allogeneic bone marrow transplantation in which graft versus host reaction, profound posttransplantation immunodeficiency and interstitial pneumonitis were unavoidable. In this report methods of bone marrow cryopreservation and elimination of tumor cells from harvested bone marrow were also discussed.