Improved identification of clinically relevant Acute Leukemia subtypes using standardized EuroFlow panels versus non-standardized approach.

Rare acute leukemia (AL) components or subtypes such as blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm (BPDCN) or early T-cell precursor acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ETP-ALL) can be difficult to detect by routine flow cytometry due to their immunophenotypes overlapping with other poorly differentiated AL. We hypothesized that using standardized EuroFlow™ Consortium approach could better diagnose such entities among cases that previously classified as acute myeloid leukemia (AML)-M0, AML with minimal differentiation, AML with myelodysplasia-related changes without further lineage differentiation, and AL of ambiguous lineage. In order to confirm this hypothesis and assess whether these AL subtypes such as BPDCN and ETP-ALL had previously gone undetected, we reanalyzed 49 banked cryopreserved sample cases using standardized EuroFlow™ Consortium panels.