Thirty-five patients were treated by intensive chemotherapy and/or whole-body irradiation followed by reinjection of cryopreserved autologous bone marrow. In 8 patients the kinetics of recovery of haemopoiesis was delayed (recovery to 10(9) leucocytes/litre beyond day 27 and recovery to 50 X 10(9) platelets/litre beyond day 25). This delay was directly responsible for the death of 3 patients and contributed to a fatal outcome in 2 others (mortality rate 9-14%). Retrospective analysis of these 8 cases revealed that failure of autologous transplantation was associated with poor recovery of CFUc, which was in turn related to an excessively rapid freezing rate after the release of fusion heat. Recovery of CFUc to 50% or more was achieved in 100% of cases when the freezing rate was less than 5 degrees C/min, 45% for freezing rates between 5 and 10 degrees C/min and 22% when the freezing rate exceeded 10 degrees C/min (n = 71, P less than 0.001). There was an inverse linear or logarithmic relationship between CFUc recovery and freezing rate after the transition phase (r = -0.46, r = -0.43, P less than 0.001). The quantity of nitrogen introduced into the freezing chamber to annul the fusion heat must therefore be calibrated with accuracy so that the desired shortening of the transition phase will not be accompanied by an overly marked increase in the freezing rate, which would result in the destruction of stem cells. To ensure an adequate freezing rate, it is crucial to monitor the temperature continuously in each sample of bone marrow during the freezing process. This study also suggested that other factors may have interfered with the kinetics of recovery after autologous bone-marrow transplantation. These factors include myelofibrosis, the presence of an Australia antigen and administration of compounds that are toxic for the bone marrow after reinjection of cryopreserved marrow. However, the responsibility of these factors cannot be stated with certainty.