Few experiences of peripheral blood (PB) hematopoietic stem cell mobilization for autologous transplantation have been reported to date in children with acute leukemia (AL). The five-drug-chemotherapy 'DIAVE' (dexamethazone, idarubicine, cytosine-arabinoside, vincristine, etoposide), followed by G-CSF, previously reported as consolidation, was adopted as a mobilization regimen in 29 children (median age: 8 years, range: 3-21; median weight: 34 kg, range: 15-73) with ALL in second remission (CR2: 21), in CR3 (2) or ANLL in CR1 (6). A median peak of 94 x 10(6) CD34(+)cells/l (range: 10-604) was reached at a median time of 12 days (range: 10-18) after the beginning of the mobilizing regimen, which was well tolerated. A median of 10.9 x 10(6) CD34(+)cells/kg (range: 2.4-56.6) were collected in 25 patients (86%), approaching 40 x 10(6)/l CD34(+) cells in the PB (ALL in CR2: 20/21, in CR3: 0/2; ANLL: 5/6) by means of one (20) or two (5) leukaphereses; a median of 2.5 blood volumes was processed. Patients with ANLL mobilized more cells than patients with ALL; moreover, the shorter the interval between remission and mobilizing therapy, the higher was the yield. The products collected underwent purification, aiming at achieving complete removal of possibly contaminating leukemic cells, in 21 cases; also, unmanipulated aliquots were stored as rescues for all but one patient. All the 23 patients undergoing transplantation engrafted (ANC >0.5 x 10(9)/l) at a median of 12 days. In conclusion, the DIAVE regimen compares favorably with conventional mobilizing regimens, usually containing cyclophosphamide, in terms of low toxicity, collection time predictability, and efficacy, as shown by the high proportion of patients mobilizing, the large amounts of stem cell collected by means of one or two leukaphereses only, and the prompt engraftment after infusion.