Immunophenotypic, Morphological and Cytogenetic Findings of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in Pediatrics

Abstract

Introduction: Acute lymphoblastic leukemias (ALL) are malignant clonic proliferations of cells at different degrees of differentiation and represent the most frequent neoplasms in pediatric age. The objective of this study is to determine the main immunophenotypic, biological and molecular characteristics of ALL in our environment.

Methods: A retrospective, non-experimental, descriptive and longitudinal study of patients diagnosed with ALL during the period between 2004 and 2009 is carried out in the pediatric area of ??the National Oncology Institute “Dr. Juan Tanca Marengo ”Solca, Guayaquil.

Results: A total of 316 patients were analyzed, with an average age of 6 years. Due to their morphological characteristics, they were classified as FAB L1 in 90.5% of cases (n = 286). According to their immunophenotype, 91.8% (n = 290) of them corresponded to an ALL of the phenotype B and 8.2% (n = 26) to one of the phenotype T, with a predominance of the common variety B. 45 cases of translocations, the most common being t (12; 21). In relation to the karyotype, this was reported as normal in 229 cases (72.5%) and there was a great variability in the alterations in the rest of 27.5%, with hyperdiploidías prevailing.

Conclusion: A better classification and staging of patients, through the correlation of immunophenotypic, morphological and cytogenetic findings, will allow the establishment of new therapeutic strategies with better survival.