Bone marrow analysis and cytochemical staining

Author(s): S. Fruehauf, A. Pitkus, J. Dengler, S. Kraeker
Institution(s): Heidelberg University Medical Centre
Last change of this image collection: 2007/04/27

Comment on this image collection: Bone Marrow Analysis performed 4 days after admission to our institution indicated a clearly hypercellular marrow for a patient of this age. Erythropoiesis and myelopoiesis are nearly completely displaced, while megakaryopoiesis remains sufficient. There is present an infiltrate of small (about 10-12 um sized) blasts with round nuclei, little cytoplasm with some granulation. The nucleus contains several nucleoli. There is also a population of mature lymphocytes (10% of the cells). Cytochemical staining performed on the bone marrow specimen showed that blasts were negative for Sudan Black B (SBB) and Non-specific Esterase (NSE), whereas myloid cells stained positive for SBB as expected. PAS staining was not informative.
The findings are compatible morphologically and cytochemically with an acute lymphoid leukemia.