IDENTIFICATION & COMPARISON OF HAEMATOLOGICAL INDICES & CLINICAL CORRELATES OF FLT3 MUTATION IN AML AND ALL

BACKGROUND: Acute leukemia is a worrying condition that merits early diagnosis & treatment to attain a positive prognosis. Molecular characterization helps in this regard and has thus been the focus of several studies recently but since molecular characterization is an intricate process, easily detectable hematological indices may serve as correlates of FLT3 mutation in the disease, serving the same purpose as molecular characterization but a lesser difficulty level and a lower cost. OBJECTIVE: To determine and compare the hematological indices and clinical correlates of FLT3 mutation in acute myelogenous leukemia and acute lymphoblastic leukemia. METHODOLOGY: This descriptive analysis was carried out from January 2018 to December 2018 upon a sample of 94 newly diagnosed cases of acute leukemia (chosen via non-probability, consecutive sampling) presenting to the Dept. of Pathology – Liaquat University of Medical & Health Sciences, Jamshoro. Data obtained from laboratory records and patient interviews was recorded into a self-structured questionnaire after taking written informed consent. The data obtained was analyzed using SPSS v. 20.0. RESULTS: The mean age of the sample stood at 41 years (±19 SD). 59.57% of the sample comprised of males while the remaining 40.43% were females. Among the total of 94 patients studied, polymerase chain reaction demonstrated FLT3 mutations in 6 (11.32%) of 53 AML patients and 2 (4.88%) of 41 ALL patients. Among the hematological and clinical findings most closely correlated with FLT3 mutation, WBC was the most statistically significant. CONCLUSION: After careful consideration, it can be concluded that no significant hematological correlates were identified, other than WBC count. KEYWORDS: Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML), Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL), Clinical Correlates, Hematological Indices & White Blood Cell Count