Aplicación de la citometría de flujo en el diagnóstico inmunológico de los linfomas cutáneos T

the immunophenotypic characteristics of 7 patients (5 males and 2 females) with clinicomorphological diagnosis of cutaneous t-cell lymphomas that received attention at the hematology department of the institute of hematology and immunology were reported. the age ot the patients ranged from 17 to 88 years old. the immunodiagnosis was obtained by direct immunofluorescence with a panel of monoclonal antibodies that included b and t lymphoid markers: cd2, cd3, cd4, cd5, cd7, cd8, cd19, cd22 and cd25. the reading was made in a facscan flow cytometer (becton-dickinson). each marker was considered positive if a percentage over 20 % of the lymphocytes expressed the antigen. our results showed the predominance in most of the patients of a general pattern of t-lymphocytes with auxiliary function (cd3+, cd4+, cd8-). it was corroborated that flow cytometry was a faster and less laborious method than other cellular immunophenotyping methods, and that it allowed to have an accurate diagnosis and to apply an effective therapy.