We report the retrospective experience of autologous blood stem cell autografts (ABSCT) performed by six teams of the "France Autogreffe" Group in acute leukaemia and in myeloma. Different clinical and biological parameters able to influence the mobilization and the collection of circulating stem cells (CSC) have been reviewed: age seems not to have any significant influence on the peak of peripheral blood granulocyte-macrophage progenitor cells (PB CFU-GM), as opposed to the type of leukaemia, the presence of a chromosome translocation t(4;11) or t(9;22) in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL), and the intensity of the myeloablative chemotherapy. ABSCT was performed in 52 evaluable patients with acute leukaemia. In acute non lymphoblastic leukaemia, the disease free survival seems not to be inferior to that one of autologous bone marrow transplantation, but with a too short follow-up to be conclusive. In acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, the rate of relapses after ABSCT is very high (about 75%), but all the patients presented initially with high risk leukaemia. In myeloma, ABSCT seems to be a very interesting new therapeutic approach, while may be limited by individual difficulties to obtain a number of CSC sufficient to insure a satisfactory engraftment.