Scanning electron microscopic investigations of acute leukemia

Twenty cases of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in children and adults were investigated at different tissue localizations by scanning electron microscopy. ALL was divided into cases with or without strong paranuclear acid phosphatase activity. ALL showed very similar surface morphology irrespective of the type of ALL or the tissue localization. ALL is, however, strikingly different in some from other childhood leukemias and lymphomas, as well as from activated T-lymphocytes in infectious mononucleosis. The results indicate that the surface morphology of leukemic cells is a stable cytologic parameter, if certain technical prerequisits are fulfilled. Further criteria may thus be added to the panel of known cytologic, cytochemical and functional parameters.