ABSTRACT
Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) was originally developed for the treatment of aplastic anemia and hematological malignancies. However, with an increasing insight into risk factors, supportive care and mechanism of action over the past decade, its use has spread to the treatment of solid tumors, immunodeficiency syndromes, congenital enzyme deficiencies and autoimmune disorders. Nevertheless, these procedures include severe temporary alterations in the host defense mechanisms, generally caused by a combination of the underlying disease, previous treatments, the preparative myeloablative treatment for the transplantation and-in the case of allogeneic transplantation-immune suppressive drugs and graft-versus-host disease (GVHD).
