Role of bone marrow transplantation in the treatment of hematologic malignancies and solid tumors: critical review of syngeneic, autologous, and allogeneic transplants.

Intensive chemoradiotherapy and bone marrow transplantation is effective for selected patients with acute or chronic leukemia, lymphoma, or solid tumors. This paper will summarize the results of treatment utilizing syngeneic transplants from identical twins, allogeneic transplants from HLA identical and nonidentical donors, and the use of the patient's own bone marrow cells in autologous bone marrow transplantation. The potential complications of marrow transplantation are described and the current results of bone marrow transplantation are compared with recent advances in alternative forms of treatment for these malignancies.