The application of data mining to flow cytometry.

Data mining is the process of automating information discovery to detect useful patterns, correlations, and trends. Existing data must be fitted into a representative model from which useful information can be derived through a variety of algorithms. The routine generation of vast amounts of data make flow cytometry a logical target for the application of data mining. This informative unit discusses the steps of the data-mining process using the immunophenotyping of hematologic neoplasms to demonstrate the application. The author describes several types of algorithms and provides a useful resource list of commercially available tools.