Autologous bone marrow transplantation contributes to haemopoietic recovery in children with solid tumours treated with high dose melphalan.

During a 5 year period, 64 children with advanced stage malignant solid tumours have been treated with high dose melphalan (140-220 mg/m2) combined with non-cryopreserved autologous marrow transplantation. All children developed a profound neutropenia and thrombocytopenia following high dose melphalan. Both the duration of neutropenia (median 11 d) and the duration of thrombocytopenia (median 18 d) were related to the nucleated cell count of the reinfused marrow but neither appeared to be affected by the dose of melphalan. This suggests that the initial recovery of the peripheral blood count results from the engrafted autologous marrow. We conclude that autologous marrow transplantation accelerates haemopoietic recovery in children with solid tumours treated with high dose melphalan.