Flow Cytometry

Flow cytometry is an important laboratory technique for immunophenotyping peripheral blood, bone marrow and tissue samples, and is of great potential value in the diagnosis and classification of leukemias and lymphoproliferative disorders. As with other expensive laboratory tests, an attempt should be made to limit utilization of this modality to those situations where it is likely to provide clinically useful information.

Indications for Flow Cytometry

Acute leukemia

Distinguish acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) from acute myeloid leukemia (AML)
Immunological classification of ALL
Distinguish ALL from malignant lymphoma
Diagnosis of acute megakaryoblastic leukemia

Flow cytometry is most likely to be useful in the following situations: classifying acute leukemias, diagnosing and classifying chronic B cell lymphoproliferative disorders, evaluating T cell and natural killer cell lymphoproliferative disorders, and as an ancillary test in the diagnosis of plasma cell dyscrasias. The following table lists specific examples of these indications and a number of situations where the test is not useful in diagnosis or classification, and therefore not recommended. When samples in the latter category are received for flow cytometry, a clinical pathologist may call the referring physician to discuss appropriateness of the test.

Last Updated on Thursday, 22 September 2011