[Basics of FCM analysis for leukemia diagnosis]

Flow cytometry (FCM) remains an essential test in the diagnosis of leukemia despite advances in genomic testing. However, the role of FCM results as a risk factor is already extremely limited. International diagnostic criteria for leukemia already prioritize diagnosis based on genetic abnormalities, with FCM diagnosis only serving as an aid to morphological diagnosis for subtypes without genetic abnormalities. However, rapid lineage diagnosis of leukemia by FCM remains important for selecting initial treatment. FCM is also an important tool for evaluating response to molecular targeted therapy, which requires repeated measurements and rapid results. Furthermore, FCM enables prediction of specific genetic abnormalities by immunophenotypic patterns, which could make it useful for verifying the clinical impact of genetic abnormalities detected by multi-gene panel testing.