[Immunophenotype analysis in 121 patients with lymphoproliferative diseases by flow cytometry].

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: Multiple parameter immunophenotype analysis by flow cytometry (FCM) could improve the accuracy of diagnosis in lymphoproliferative diseases. This study was to analyze the immunophenotype of 135 samples, including lymph nodes, blood, bone marrow, and cerebrospinal fluid samples, from 121 patients with suspected lymphoid malignancies, to evaluate its role in diagnosis. METHODS: All samples were tested by routine morphological, pathological, and immunohistochemical methods, and analyzed by FCM in suspended single cells, to compare the accuracy of different diagnostic methods. RESULTS: (1) Three of 23 lymph nodes, which failed to be diagnosed by routine methods, were determined by flow cytometric immunophenotype analysis. (2) According to new WHO classification, 96 of 97 blood or bone marrow aspiration samples were diagnosed by flow cytometric immunophenotype analysis, while 88 of 97 samples were diagnosed by routine immunohistochemical method. (3) Multiple parameter immunophenotype analysis in cerebrospinal fluid samples by FCM improved the diagnostic accuracy of leukemia or lymphoma involvement of central nervous system. CONCLUSIONS: Multiple parameter immunophenotype analysis by FCM improves the accuracy of diagnosis in lymphoid malignancies, and can be used in diagnosis, differentiated diagnosis, and detection of minimal residue in lymphoproliferative diseases.