High Throughput FISH Analysis: A New, Sensitive Option For Evaluation of Hematological Malignancies

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to determine the efficiency of the high throughput FISH analysis (HTFA) method for detecting genetic alterations in hematological malignancies, which is a new bacterial artificial chromosome array-based approach. MATERIALS AND METHODS We performed a HTFA study of bone marrow aspiration and peripheral blood samples of 77 cases (n=19 myelodysplastic syndrome, n=17 acute lymphoblastic leukemia, n=9 chronic myeloid leukemia, n=32 acute myeloid leukemia) with hematological malignancies during the periods of initial diagnosis, treatment, and/or follow-up. RESULTS Both numerical and structural abnormalities were detected by HTFA. We observed aberrations in 88% of our acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients, 25% of acute myeloid leukemia patients, and 31% of myelodysplastic syndrome patients. In chronic myeloid leukemia cases, aberration was not detected by HTFA. CONCLUSION Our results showed that HTFA, combined with other methods, will gradually take a place in the routine diagnosis of hematologic malignancies. CONFLICT OF INTEREST None declared.