[Application of flow cytometry to the diagnosis of leukemia].

As an application of the flow-cytometry the diagnosis of leukemia was tried by using both the scattergram at 0 degree or 90 degrees and the light activated cell sorting on human peripheral leukocytes and bone marrow blood cells. This new examination method which has never been clinically used involves several problems, but the scattergram either 0 degree or 90 degrees is able to make graphical diagnosis on various leukemia, while the light activated cell sorting is able to observe the kinetics on a trace of leukemic cells in cases of hypoplastic leukemia, pre-leukemic state or pre-relapse of leukemia. These facts are considered to affect considerably the criteria of remission. In addition, the method is able to find out and collect abnormal cells without any treatment. As mentioned before, it is not only useful for the diagnosis of leukemia but also available as a part of examinations and experiments following studies on cell surface marker of only objective cell-mass, cell cycle analysis, examination of karyotype analysis, cell culture, etc. Therefore, it will be a promising method for the haematological studies in the near future.