Utility of Flow Cytometry in Diagnosis of Acute Leukemias: A Study at RIMS, Ranchi, India

INTRODUCTION: Leukemia is a neoplastic disorder originating in a hematopoietic cell that has undergone an intrinsic change, causing it to escape from the normal restraints imposed on proliferative activity. Immunophenotyping is now the preferred method for diagnosing, classifying, staging and monitoring the disease progression as well as response to therapy. MATERIAL AND METHOD: The material of the present study consisted of 51 patients suffering from hematological malignancies who attended and /or were admitted in Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences, Ranchi during the period from March 2018 to August 2019. RESULTS: A total of 51 cases were diagnosed as acute leukemia on microscopic examination. On immunophenotyping, 36 cases (70.6%) were diagnosed as Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML), 15 cases (29.4%) were diagnosed as Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL). ALL cases were further divided into B-Cell ALL and T-Cell ALL with 8 cases (15.7%) and 7 cases (13.7%) respectively. Cytogenetics could not be done for these cases due to non-availability of the set-up for the same at the institute. CONCLUSION: Flowcytometry can be a great tool in diagnosis and categorisation of leukemia especially at centres where cytogenetics is not available.