Hooggedoseerde chemotherapie gevolgd door transplantatie van autologe hematopoëtische stamcellen als therapie voor systemische reumatische auto-immuunziekten

– Remissions of autoimmune diseases can be accomplished in animals by myeloablative chemotherapy followed by allogeneic or autologous bone marrow transplantation.

– Remissions of autoimmune diseases have been reported in patients with concomitant malignancies for which they were treated with myeloablative chemotherapy followed by stem cell transplantation.

– Survival of patients with systemic rheumatic autoimmune disease is reduced. Since transplantation related mortality after autologous stem cell transplantation is less than 5, this treat ment becomes a possibility for patients with severe systemic rheumatic autoimmune disease, such as systemic sclerosis.