Frequency of Discrepancy between Bone Marrow Morphology and Immunophenotype in Acute Leukaemia

Background: Acute leukaemia (AL) are a heterogenous group of haematological malignancy characterized by uncontrolled clonal proliferation of haematopoietic progenitor cells. Objectives: The study was conducted to have a detailed understanding of immunophenotyping profile, the frequency of discrepancy between bone marrow morphology and immunophenotyping and importance of immunophenotyping in diagnosis of acute leukaemia. Methods: This prospective type of observational study was carried out with an aim to correlate the immunophenotype with bone marrow morphology and to see the discrepancy between this two in acute leukaemia. A total of 38 untreated acute leukemia patients attending in the Department of Haematology, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, Dhaka, during the period from October 2016 to September 2017were included in this study. At first the morphological diagnosis was done. Then the immunophenotypic profile was compared. Result: Around eighty-two cases of acute leukaemia did find similarity with immunophenotyping and remaining 18.4% shows discrepancy. Diagnosis in this 18.4% changes after immunophenotyping. Aberrant phenotypes were detected in 20 (52.6%) samples among them 13 (34.21%) cases were AML, 3 (7.8%) cases were B-ALL and 4 (10.52%) cases were T-ALL. Significant relation was not found between aberrant marker and FAB subtypes. Conclusion: In acute leukaemia morphological appearance of bone marrow does not always match with immunophenotyping. It is therefore imperative and absolutely essential to ascertain the lineage of leukaemia by immunophenotyping before starting treatment.