Two commonly used chemotherapy regimens for lymphoma salvage therapy were compared: ICE (ifosphamide, carboplatin and etoposide) +/- rituximab and IVE (ifosfamide, epirubicin and etoposide) +/- rituximab, for their efficacy in mobilising peripheral blood stem cells for autologous transplantation. Significant differences were observed between the cohorts in terms of number of patients mobilising the stipulated minimum >2 x 10(6) CD34+/kg (99.2% in IVE group versus 83% in ICE group: P = 0.0002) and also in terms of the number of patients achieving the predetermined target of >5 x 10(6) CD34+/kg, both in total and during the first apheresis procedure (72% in IVE versus 51% in ICE group and 49% in IVE versus 7% in ICE group: P = 0.02 and P < 0.0001 respectively). This analysis of two similar groups of patients treated within a single-centre appears to demonstrate that the IVE regimen is a more effective stem cell mobilisation regimen than ICE in the context of salvage therapy for Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphoma, allowing more patients to achieve the target CD34+ cell collection and proceed to high-dose therapy and autologous stem cell transplantation.