[Clinical significance and prognostic detection of minimal residual disease in acute leukemias].

The term minimal residual disease (MRD) describes leukemia cells present in bone marrow at a level below that detectable by conventional methodology in patients being in complete hematological and clinical remission (CR). The purpose of the study was, the detection of MRD in leukemia patients (AL-MRD+), the correlation between AL-MRD+ and the chosen hematological and clinical parameters and the follow up, and the prognosis. Bone marrow samples from 31 patients with ALL and AML, and from 18 volunteers were taken several times. Staining of cells was performed by double color immunofluorescence (IF), using flow cytometer and double color immunoenzyme assay (APAAP). The statistical analysis were evaluated with a t-Student's test and chi-squared test.