Phagocytic activity of leukaemic blasts.

Phagocytic activity of leukaemic blasts in 20 adults and 16 children suffering from acute leukaemia was studied in vitro by the use of ferrioxidsaccharate. Most frequently phagocytosing blasts were encountered in myelomonocytic leukaemias. The morphological character of positive blasts resembled often that of monocytoid cells. In lymphoblastic and reticular leukaemias phagocytic ability of blasts was an exceptional finding.