We report that in cancer patients a dramatic reduction in infection rate, days of isolation, oral mucositis and hospitalization due to high‐dose chemotherapy is achievable by autografting with haematopoietic progenitor cells (CPCs) circulating in peripheral blood following cancer therapy with high‐dose cyclophosphamide (HD‐CTX) and administration of recombinant haematopoietic cytokines. Thirty patients (29 lymphomas, one breast cancer) were treated with total body irradiation and high‐dose melphalan followed by either: (i) bone marrow transplant (Group A); (ii) bone marrow plus HD‐CTX‐mobilized CPC transplant (Group B); or (iii) bone marrow plus HD‐CTX‐ and cytokine‐mobilized CPC transplant (Group C). Nursing care load was remarkably higher in Group A patients compared to Group B and C patients, thus demonstrating clinical advantages of transplantation of HD‐CTX‐ and cy