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Purpose: To explore the contribution of flow cytometry immunophenotyping (FCI) in detecting leptomeningeal disease in patients with solid tumors., Experimental Design: Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from 78 patients who received a diagnosis of epithelial-cell solid tumors and had clinical data suggestive of leptomeningeal carcinomatosis (LC) were studied. A novel FCI protocol was used to identify cells expressing the epithelial cell antigen EpCAM and their DNA content. Accompanying inflammatory cells were also described. FCI results (positive or negative for malignancy) were compared with those from CSF cytology and with the diagnosis established by the clinicians: patients with LC (n = 49), without LC (n = 26), and undetermined (n = 3)., Results: FCI described a wide range of EpCAM-positive cells with a hyperdiploid DNA content in the CSF of patients with LC. Compared with cytology, FCI showed higher sensitivity (75.5 vs 65.3) and negative predictive value (67.6 vs 60.5), and similar specificity (96.1 vs 100) and positive predictive value (97.4 vs 100). Concordance between cytology and FCI was high (Kp = 0.83), although misdiagnosis of LC did not show differences between evaluating the CSF with 1 or 2 techniques (P = .06). Receiver-operator characteristic curve analyses showed that lymphocytes and monocytes had a different distribution between patients with and without LC., Conclusion: FCI seems to be a promising new tool for improving the diagnostic examination of patients with suspicion of LC. Detection of epithelial cells with a higher DNA content is highly specific of LC, but evaluation of the nonepithelial cell compartment of the CSF might also be useful for supporting this diagnosis.

Low volume and few cells have hampered the use of flow cytometry for studying cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in routine clinical practice, although information about the cellular phenotypes present in this type of sample is of great value in many diseases. We developed a novel flow cytometric strategy capable of identifying total CSF T lymphocytes and the CD4+ subset, even in CSF samples with as few as 1 leukocyte per 3 microL of sample. We also showed that identification of CD8+ T cells could be achieved in most samples, while B lymphocytes are detectable only in samples with more than 5 cells per microliter. These findings demonstrate the reliability of this method to improve the diagnostic accuracy of classic cytologic studies in many neurologic disorders.

Neurological disorders are common in HIV-infected patients. Central nervous system (CNS) lymphoma should always be considered because it is an important cause of morbidity and mortality.To investigate the clinical utility of flow cytometry immunophenotyping (FCI) in diagnosing or discarding leptomeningeal involvement in HIV-infected patients and to compare its sensitivity with that of conventional cytological methods.Fifty-six cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from 29 HIV-infected patients were independently evaluated by flow cytometry and cytology. The description of an aberrant immunophenotype was the criterion used to define the malignant nature of any CSF cell population.FCI and cytology gave concordant results for 48 of the 56 CSF samples studied: 37 were negative for malignancy and 11 had evidence of CNS lymphoma. Discordant results were obtained for eight CSF samples, and the accuracy of the FCI findings could be demonstrated for four CSF samples described as positive for malignancy according to the FCI criteria.A high level of agreement was found between the results obtained using the two methods, but FCI gave at least 25% higher sensitivity than conventional cytomorphological methods for the detection of malignant cells. This advantage suggests that, in case of negative flow cytometry results, disorders other than non-Hodgkin's lymphoma should be strongly considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Central nervous system (CNS) leukaemia is still a matter of debate and new technologies are required to improve the classic morphological definition. One hundred and sixty-eight cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from 31 patients with acute leukaemia were analysed by flow cytometry and conventional cytology. Concordant positive and negative findings were found in 158 samples but 10 produced discrepant results. Cytology seemed to offer more precise information in one CSF sample and flow cytometric accuracy could be demonstrated in five samples. We conclude that flow cytometry is of great help in confirming CNS leukaemia and eliminating other conditions. Therefore, leukaemic patients can benefit from double cytological and flow cytometric CSF studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Objective: To determine the normal range of feto-maternal haemorrhage (FMH) due to labour, and to investigate if the type of delivery might influence the volume of FMH. Study design: In a prospective cohort trial setting we studied 346 women in their 3rd trimester of gestation. Women were classified according to the type of delivery: vaginal, instrumental and caesarean section. Fetal erythrocytes in maternal blood were measured by flow cytometry immunophenotyping using a fluorochrome-conjugated monoclonal antibody against fetal haemoglobin. For each woman, two blood samples were studied; one pre-labour and one post-labour. The difference between FMH values obtained post- and pre-delivery was established as FMH due to delivery. Results: FMH due to labour ranged between <0.01 and 25.19ml, being <1.15ml in 96.13% of cases. This value was established as the upper limit of normal FMH due to delivery. No statistical significance was found between the volume of FMH and type of delivery. Analyzing distributions of groups, most data followed a normal distribution, apart from some patients who had higher volume of FMH. Among these patients caesarean sections showed a higher FMH volume, with statistically significant differences between vaginal deliveries and caesarean sections (p =0.001), and between instrumental deliveries and caesarean sections (p =0.008). Conclusions: FMH due to labour is small. The route of delivery could not be established as a risk factor for FMH but caesarean section increases the risk of suffering a higher amount of transplacental bleeding. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: There is an emerging use of flow cytometry to evaluate patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). We have studied CD7 and TdT expression in the CD34+ myeloid blast cell population in 55 bone marrow samples of patients with MDS. CD7 and/or TdT were detected in 38 out of 55 patients (69%). CD7 expression was not related to other bad prognosis data but conversely, we found an association between TdT+ CD34 myeloblasts and high-risk MDS patients according to the International Prognostic Scoring System. Therefore, CD7 and TdT may help to establish the diagnosis of MDS and, TdT expression also seems to be a useful marker in distinguishing risk groups. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]