title: Acute leukaemia of ambiguous lineage--a diagnostic dilemma.
abstract: Acute leukaemia of ambiguous lineage (ALAL) is a rare form of leukaemia in which morphologic, cytochemical and immuno-phenotypic features of the proliferating blasts lack sufficient evidence to classify them as myeloid or lymphoid in origin or have characteristics of both myeloid and lymphoid cells. We report a 22-year-old man presenting with clinical features of an acute lymphoblastic leukaemia but blasts in his blood and bone marrow with morphological features of myeloblasts. His immuno-phenotyping by flowcytometry showed antigens specific for both myeloid and B-lymphoid lineages. We highlight the importance of correlating clinical features with cellular morphology when diagnosing acute leukaemias, especially when facilities for flowcytometry are not routinely available.
authors: Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
authors: L V
authors: LV
authors: Gooneratne
authors: M D M
authors: MD
authors: Wijeratne
authors: H D H S
authors: HD
authors: Gunasekara
authors: M N
authors: MN
authors: Tudawe
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D006801:Humans; D007938:Leukemia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male