Applications of flow cytometry in diagnostic pathology

The growth of flow cytometry in diagnostic pathology has been aided by the development of instruments that can be incorporated into the pathology laboratory and new assays that have expanded the role of flow cytometry in clinical medicine. The evaluation of DNA content in solid tumors is rapidly becoming a routine procedure in surgical pathology; this topic is only briefly covered here and has been more completely reviewed elsewhere. Other assays are more completely discussed, including reticulocyte analysis, identification of antiplatelet and antineutrophil antibodies in immune cytopenias, and lymphocyte antibodies in organ transplant cross-matching. Mitogen cell cycle analysis, detection of nuclear antigens, and neutrophil function assays are also briefly covered. This review is intended to increase the awareness of how flow cytometry can be incorporated into the clinical pathology laboratory, beyond its traditional use in monoclonal antibody immunophenotyping.