Relationships between different cytobiological aspects of myeloid leukaemias

The present survey deals with the various cytobiological techniques, including the classical morphological and cytochemical approach, as well as the more recently introduced methods of study which may be employed for the characterization of malignant myeloid cells and the identification of particular leukaemic variants. The authors discuss in turn the advantages and limitations of the various approaches and draw attention to the possible relationships which may be detected using combined techniques between different cytobiological aspects, such as the expression of surface markers on the one hand and different degrees of proliferative activity on the other, and the presence of specific cytogenetic alterations as well as the existence of peculiar morphological and cytochemical patterns.