LABORATORY DIAGNOSIS OF MYELOID AND ACUTE LYMPHOID LEUKEMIAS

Abstract

Leukemia, neoplastic hematopoietic stem cell alteration, can be classified according to the lineage and degree of cell maturation in acute and chronic leukemia. In acute leukemia, leukocytes multiply rapidly, lose the ability to mature while remaining as circulating blasts, both in bone marrow and peripheral blood, while in chronic leukemias, the genetic alteration, for the most part, follows cell maturation, greater cell proliferation and resistance to apoptosis. The first classification systems of acute leukemias (ALs) were based only on cytomorphological and cytochemical investigations. Currently, laboratory tests that involve the diagnosis of leukemias allow to expand the types and subtypes of leukemias. Screening tests such as blood count and myelogram are useful to check for abnormal presence of blasts in peripheral blood and bone marrow respectively. Tests such as immunophenotyping allow us to diagnose the myeloid or lymphoid nature of blasts and degree of cell maturation involved in each leukemia subtype, while cytogenetics, through the chromosomal changes that involve each mutation, are already useful for determining the prognosis of the patient.