Autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation for lung cancer

Lung carcinoma, the most frequent cause of cancer-related death in both men and women, remains a difficult therapeutic problem. Small-cell lung carcin oma, despite its high response rate to chemotherapy, is associated with a r apid recurrence and ultimately limited overall survival. In attempts to exp loit tumour chemosensitivity, high-dose chemotherapy (HDC) combining severa l active drugs has been studied to improve outcome. In addition, haematopoi etic stem cell support has been used to allow dose escalation without major myelosuppression. In contrast to small-cell carcinoma, non-small-cell carc inoma of the lung is generally not very responsive to chemotherapy, and res ults with dose intensity in unresectable tumour have so far been very disap pointing. We review the results of HDC in terms of response and survival, a nd discuss potential strategies to improve the effectiveness of dose intens ity.