Acute leukaemia of ambiguous lineage--a diagnostic dilemma.
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.
Gooneratne
L V
LV
Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Wijeratne
M D M
MD
Gunasekara
H D H S
HD
Tudawe
M N
MN
D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D006801:Humans; D007938:Leukemia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male