Banding studies of chromosomal abnormalities in patients with acute lymphocytic leukemia

Karyotypes were analyzed by routine Giemsa and quinacrine fluorescence for 16 patients with acute lymphocytic leukemia [ten adults (18 to 51 years) and six children (3 to 15 years)]. Four patients had received previous therapy, but all 16 had active disease when they were first studied. Eight patients (five untreated) had a normal karyotype initially; however, three of these developed a chromosomal abnormality during relapse. Eight patients had a chromosomal abnormality in their initial samples. Each of the 11 patients had different abnormalities. All chromosomes except Nos. 3, 5, 15, 16, and Y were involved in the various aneuploidies. One patient had a Ph1 chromosome due to a translocation with No. 21: t(21;22)(q22;q11). A patient with B-cell acute lymphocytic leukemia had a 14q+ marker in addition to other abnormalities. The median survival of patients with initially normal karyotypes may be longer than that of patients whose karyotypes are abnormal initially.