L Huibregtsen | PubMed Health

PubMed1995

The H1 automated differential counter in determination of bone marrow remission in acute leukemia.

One hundred eighty-one bone marrow aspirates from 63 patients with acute leukemia were evaluated by the Technicon H1 automated differential counter and by microscopic examination for remission status after chemotherapy. Of the 163 marrows that were conclusive by microscopic examination, 130 were in remission (< 5% blast cells). This study focused on the following H1 alarms/flags to estimate their sensitivity for determination of remission: blast signal (BLSI), large unstained cells alarm (LUCA), baso blast alarm (BBLA), immature granulocytes (IGA) and atypia (ATYP). Basoblast alarm and BLSI revealed to be the most sensitive alarms (P < .0000 both), with 6 and 7 false-negative cases, respectively. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and efficiency were: 79%, 92%, 70%, 94%, and 89%, respectively for BLSI, and 82%, 90%, 68%, 95%, and 88%, respectively for BBLA. Blast signal and BBLA did not turn up in 67 hematologically normal bone marrows. In conclusion, the H1, the baso channel in particular, is a sensitive and specific tool for estimation of bone marrow remission status in acute leukemia.

Acute Disease↗

PubMed1985

Chronic B-cell leukemias: relation between morphological and immunological features.

To better understand the heterogeneity of chronic B-cell leukemias we correlated morphological and immunological features by studying the peripheral blood from 80 patients with a panel of anti-immunoglobulin and fourteen monoclonal antibodies, which hitherto were studied separately or with respect to one single morphological entity only. Of these the surface immunoglobulins (sIg) and monoclonal antibodies (McAb) BA-1, BA-2, FMC7, OKM1, and anti-T65 allowed a fair distinction between five cytological subtypes: chronic lymphocytic (CLL), "lymphoplasmacytoid" (LPL), centrocytic (CL), prolymphocytic (PLL), and hairy cell leukemia (HCL). In that order the sIg showed a decreasing number of cases of mu +/- delta class and an increase of alpha or gamma positivity. The number of BA-1-positive cases was decreased in PLL and HCL. There was a decline of BA-2- and anti-T65-positive cases in the order mentioned, while this was accompanied by an increase of FMC7 and OKM1 positivity. A significant mutual exclusion between anti-T65 and FMC7 was observed and the same was true for FMC7 and BA-2. The antibodies FMC7 and OKM1, and anti-T65 and BA-2 were linked to each other. Also FMC7 positivity was related to sIg of the alpha and gamma classes. On the basis of this unique combination of markers a differentiation scheme of B lymphocytes is proposed, in which prolymphocytic leukemia and hairy cell leukemia seem to represent a maturation arrest at a more advanced stage than chronic lymphocytic or "lymphoplasmacytoid" leukemia.

Adult↗