Application Of Flow Cytometric Immunophenotypic Analysis In The Diagnosis Of Malignant Lymphoma

Objective: To investigate the value of flow cytometric immunophenotyping (FCI) in thediagnosis and differentiated diagnosis of lymphoma. To explain the immunophenotypic features and differences of malignant lymphoma, and to further explore if this approach is practicable in routine clinico-pathological practice.Methods: 56 fresh samples suspicious of lymphoma in clinical practice were collectedbetween November, 2004 and April, 2006. Every samples were individually evaluated by FCI. The results of FCI were analyzed and compared with the histopathological diagnosis.Results: In 56 samples, 3 cases (8.9%) were uninformative by FCI due to insufficient cellsyield. Among the remaining 53 cases, the FCI data was consistent with the final morphological diagnosis in 42 cases (79.2%). For the diagnosis of NHL-B, NHL-T, thymoma, metastasizing carcinoma and benign lesions of lymph node, the coincident rates between FCI data and morphological diagnosis were 89.5% (17/18), 100% (5/5), 100% (6/6), 100% (6/6) and 80% (8/10), respectively. Discrepancy between histology and FCI was observed in 11 cases (20.8%) , including 5 cases of HL, 1 case of seminomas, 1 case of FL, 1 case of benign lesions of lymph node, 1 case inclined to be TCRBCL and 1 case can't exclude NHL-T1 from the histology.Conclusion: Multi-parameter FCI analysis can provide the diagnosis of lymphoma basedon histopathology and immunology. It plays an important role in the diagnosis, classification and subdivision of the NHL. It is an assistant but necessary approach for the diagnosis and differentiated diagnosis of lymphoma.