Six patients with advanced ovarian carcinoma (OvCa), and six patients with stage II or III resectable breast cancer (BrCa) were treated with low-dose CY (LD-CY, 1500 mg/m2) and cisplatin (CDDP) 100 mg/m2 (OvCa) or epirubicin (EPR) 120 mg/m2 (BrCa) plus recombinant human G-CSF (rhG-CSF). Twelve days after chemotherapy, all patients underwent PBSC collection on an outpatient basis. Following the completion of the induction programme, all patients underwent high-dose chemotherapy (HDC) with carboplatin 1200 mg/m2, etoposide 900 mg/m2 and melphalan 100 mg/m2 with the reinfusion of PBSC. LD-CY plus rhG-CSF in combination with CDDP or EPR mobilised a very large number of PBSC. After a median of 13 days from chemotherapy, the concentration of PBSC in the peripheral blood was 40-fold higher than the same patient's baseline value. Each collection yielded a median of 10.8 x 10(4)/kg colony-forming unit granulocyte-macrophage. Severe myelosuppression occurred in all patients following HDC, but the infusion of PBSC produced a rapid and sustained haemopoietic recovery. After a median of 11 days from reinfusion, haemopoietic engraftment was complete and 80% of the patients had platelets > 100 x 10(9)/l and PMN > 1 x 10(9)/l within 14 days after reinfusion. We can conclude that the present therapeutic approach is an excellent option for mobilisation, collection and transplantation of PBSC during intensive dose adjuvant polychemotherapy of high-risk cancer.