The University of Cape Town leukaemia centre: the first 5 years

In the last 5 years there has been an increasing commitment to cell support regimens and bone marrow transplantation in leukaemia and the clinical service has developed in parallel with laboratory-based research programmes. In the acute leukaemias there has been a major attempt to improve diagnostic accuracy and to classify the tumours functionally, while the clinical approach is currently comparing bone marrow transplantation during the first complete remission with early or late cytotoxic intensification programmes. As regards cell support, allogeneic granulocytes and platelets are being provided for patients in both the leukaemia and the transplantation programmes. In addition, new techniques are being developed for increasing the efficiency of cell collection and characterizing their in vitro function. Bone marrow transplantation is the preferred form of treatment for patients with severe acute aplastic anaemia. Laboratory research is directed at defining graft-versus-host disease and attempting to eliminate this phenomenon with immunological adjuvants.