ABSTRACT
At present, allogeneic stem cell transplantation (SCT) is the only curative treatment for chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML), and CML is one of the most important indications for allogeneic SCT. Whereas bone marrow (BM) was the only source of allogeneic stem cells for over two decades, peripheral blood stem cells (PBSC) mobilized by growth factors have increasingly been used for allogeneic transplantation during recent years. After the first series of patients successfully allografted with granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF)-mobilized PBSC were reported in the early 1990s,1-3 allogeneic PBSC transplantation (PBSCT) instead of allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) rapidly gained worldwide acceptance; in Europe already by 1998, PBSCT accounted for 36% of all allogeneic stem cell transplants performed (compared with less than 1% in 1993).4
