Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 9, 2026
Database-guided Flow-cytometry for Evaluation of Bone Marrow Myeloid Cell Maturation
Published on: November 3, 2018
Morphologic, flow cytometric and cytogenetic evaluation of bone marrow involvement in B-cell lymphoma
Hiroshi Gomyo1, Manabu Shimoyama, Kentaro Minagawa
1Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine, Kobe University School of Medicine, Japan.
Insights
Flow cytometry (FC) is more sensitive than morphologic or cytogenetic analysis for detecting bone marrow involvement in B-cell lymphoma. FC identifies smaller amounts of disease, aiding in staging and treatment evaluation.
Area of Science:
- Hematology
- Oncology
- Immunology
Background:
- Bone marrow involvement is critical for staging B-cell lymphoma.
- Current diagnostic methods for bone marrow involvement have limitations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the utility of flow cytometry (FC) and cytogenetic analysis in assessing bone marrow involvement in B-cell lymphoma.
- To compare the sensitivity of FC and cytogenetic analysis against morphologic evaluation.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective analysis of 104 bone marrow specimens from B-cell lymphoma patients.
- Utilized three-color FC and cytogenetic analysis.
- Compared results with morphologic evaluation of bone marrow biopsy.
Main Results:
- Morphologic evaluation identified bone marrow involvement in 10.6% of cases.
- FC detected a monoclonal B-cell population in 23.1% of samples, identifying smaller disease amounts than morphologic evaluation.
- Cytogenetic analysis revealed clonal abnormalities in only 8.7% of samples, but detected specific abnormalities in aggressive lymphomas.
Conclusions:
- FC is more sensitive than morphologic or cytogenetic analysis for detecting bone marrow involvement in B-cell lymphoma.
- Morphologic evaluation of bone marrow biopsy remains essential.
- Cytogenetic analysis has limited sensitivity but may aid in diagnosing specific aggressive lymphomas.
Background And Objectives:
Flow cytometric immunophenotypic analysis (FC) and cytogenetic analysis are essential techniques for the diagnosis and classification of many hematologic disorders. The roles of these analyses in B-cell lymphoma to detect bone marrow (BM) involvement in clinical staging and to evaluate the effectiveness of treatments have not yet been determined. The aim of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of FC and cytogenetic analysis in the assessment of BM involvement in B-cell lymphoma.
Design And Methods:
We retrospectively analyzed the usefulness of three-color FC and cytogenetic analysis in detecting BM involvement by examining 104 BM specimens from patients with B-cell lymphoma.
Results:
By morphologic evaluation of BM biopsy (BMB), the BM was involved in 11 specimens (10.6%), not involved in 92 specimens (88.5%) and involvement could not be determined in 1 specimen (0.9%). FC identified a monoclonal B-cell population in 24 samples (23.1%). FC detected BM involvement in all but one BMB positive sample, and showed negative results in a BMB undetermined sample. Conclusively, FC found a monoclonal B-cell population in 14 of 92 BMB negative samples (15.2%). In particular, FC detected smaller amounts of BM involvement than did morphologic evaluation. Cytogenetic analysis revealed clonal abnormalities in only 9 of 104 samples (8.7%). However, 2 of these 9 samples were from patients with aggressive lymphoma with complex structural chromosomal abnormalities detectable only by cytogenetic analysis.
Interpretation And Conclusions:
Although morphologic evaluation of adequate amounts of BMB specimens remains essential for the evaluation of BM involvement, three-color FC is more sensitive in detecting BM disease than morphologic or cytogenetic analysis. Cytogenetic analysis seems to have low sensitivity and specificity, but this method may improve the detection of BM involvement in a small number of aggressive lymphomas that have many mitotic cells.
