Abstract
Hematogones are benign immature B cells that commonly populate the bone marrow of children. Their presence has been noted to interfere with the flowcytometric analysis of cases of suspected acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) because their immunophenotype (positive for CD19, CD10, CD34, and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase) is similar to that of pre–B cell lymphoblasts. Here we report a case in which the presence of a discrete population of hematogones, characterized by low-intensity CD10 cell-surface staining compared with pre–B cell lymphoblasts, actually aided in the recognition of early relapsed ALL and disease progression over a 4-day period. We also review our experience with flow-cytometric immunophenotyping in pediatric cases of suspected leukemia to evaluate the frequency of this occurrence.
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