ABSTRACT
Within the last decade, transplantation of peripheral-blood progenitor cells (PBPCs) after high-dose chemotherapy has been performed increasingly and is expected to completely replace bone marrow transplantation (BMT) within the next few years. This is mostly due to several advantages that PBPCs offer over BMT. In contrast to bone marrow grafts, PBPCs can be collected on an outpatient basis by leukapheresis, a procedure that does not require general anesthesia. Collection of sufficient numbers of PBPCs for transplantation is possible even in situations when bone marrow harvest is hampered by tumor cell infiltration, hypoplasia, or fibrosis after radio-therapy/chemotherapy. Most importantly, PBPC transplantation is linked to a faster recovery of neutro phils and particularly of platelets [1-4], leading to reductions of infectious episodes and need for antibiotics as well as platelet transfusions [44]. The patients’ risk of suffering from severe infection or bleeding complications is reduced, which leads to a shorter hospital stay and lower overall hospital charges.
