Usefulness of cytogenetics in leukemias

Present study consists of cytogenetic evaluation in 141 cases referred to our centre for various leukemias. This includes 110 cases of CML, 10 of ALL, 16 of AML (M3), 2 of AML(M2), 2 of MDS and 1 of CMML. The conventional cytogenetic study was carried out in all the cases using G Banding technique. Of the 141 patients studied, 17 patients showed secondary chromosomal alterations along with primary chromosomal alterations. In two patients of CML with secondary chromosomal alteration t(4:9:22), molecular cytogenetic technique (FISH) has been carried out which has confirmed the primary observations revealed by the conventional cytogenetic technique. Other secondary alterations were numerous and would have been missed if only FISH or PCR technique would have been used for diagnosis. We observed from our study that advanced molecular techniques like FISH and PCR cannot replace the conventional cytogenetic study but are useful as supportive and confirmative diagnostic tools.