Abstract:

Objective To investigate the performance of flow cytometry （FCM） in peripheral blood cell determination in patients with acute leukemia （AL）. Methods A total of 142 patients with AL were enrolled. Their peripheral blood samples were determined by FCM. The morphological changes of bone marrow cells were determined as well,and the results were used as standard. The sensitivities and specificities of FCM for acute myeloid leukemia （AML） and acute lymphoblastic leukemia （ALL） were evaluated. The follow-up period was 12 months. The relationship of the positive rate and the negative rate of microresidual disease（MRD）with recurrence rate in peripheral blood was analyzed. Results There were 88 cases of AML,and the sensitivity and specificity of FCM were 96.6% and 33.3%, respectively. There were 54 cases of ALL,and the sensitivity and specificity of FCM were 88.9% and 44.4%, respectively. Among the 24 patients with negative MRD,6 patients had recurrence,and the recurrence rate was 25.0%. There were 88 of 118 positive MRD patients with recurrence,and the recurrence rate was 74.6%. The recurrence rate of positive MRD patients was higher than that of negative MRD patients （P<0.05）. Conclusions FCM has a good sensitivity in peripheral blood cell determination in patients with of AL and in the evaluation of AL recurrence.

Key words: Flow cytometry, Peripheral blood, Acute leukemia, Prognosis, Recurrence