Another role for this drug, as well as for etoposide and carboplatin , particularly in very high dosage, is in combination with autologous bone marrow transplantation as salvage therapy or as the primary treatment for very poor risk cases.
Bone Marrow Transplantation This procedure is replacing much more toxic salvage chemotherapy such as high-dose cisplatin and a combination named POMP/ACE. With complete responses seen in 20 to 40 percent of heavily pretreated men given bone marrow transplantation combinations, this therapy is sometimes being used for early relapse after one or two programs containing cisplatin have failed, as well as immediately after one relapse or with less than expected decrease in markers in poor-risk cases.
