HIGH-DOSE CHEMOTHERAPY WITH AUTOLOGOUS STEM-CELL TRANSPLANTATION IS FEASIBLE AND SAFE IN A REGIONAL-HOSPITAL - A 6-YEAR EXPERIENCE IN SOUTHERN SWITZERLAND

High-dose therapy with bone marrow (BM) or blood stem cell (BSC) suppo rt is a high-technology technique usually administered in specialized tertiary centers, The use of BSC has made this technique simpler and a ccessible also to smaller hospitals, We retrospectively analyzed the d ata of patients with lymphoma, leukemia and other tumors who received high-dose therapy and BM or BSC transplantation in our district hospit al, looking at the type of procedure performed, complications, use of growth factors, and progression-free and overall survival, A total of 40 patients were transplanted over 6 years, No procedure-related death s and no permanent organ toxicities were seen, The use of BSC brought about a great reduction in the duration of hospital stay, septic compl ications and transfusion of blood components, For patients with lympho ma (n = 20) the probabilities of progression-free survival and of over all survival at 2 years are 48% (95% C.I. 28-68%) and 68% (95% C.I. 46 -84%), respectively, Based on these data, we believe that ABMT and BSC transplantation are feasible and safe in a peripheral hospital when t he appropriate human and technical conditions are present, Treatment o utcome is then comparable to that of specialized centers.