Malignant Haematology Flashcards
What is used to identify normal mature non-lymphoid cells?
Morphology
What is used to identify normal progenitors and stem cells?
Immunophenotyping
What occurs in malignant haemopoiesis?
Increased numbers of abnormal and dysfunctional cells
What are the four broad causes of malignant haemopoesis?
Increased proliferation
Lack of differentiation
Lack of maturation
Lack of apoptosis
What occurs in acute leukaemia?
There is proliferation of abnormal progenitors with a block in differentiation/maturation
What occurs in chronic myeloproliferative disorders?
There is proliferation of abnormal progenitors with no block in differentiation/maturation
What is a clone?
A population of cells derived from a single cell
Normal haemopoesis is monoclonal and malignant haemopoesis is polyclonal. True/false?
False - normal haemopoiesis is polyclonal while malignant haemopoiesis is monoclonal
Give some histological features of an aggressive leukaemia
Large cells with high nuclear-cytoplasmic ratio
Prominent nucleoli
Rapid proliferation
Acute/chronic leukaemias present with failure of normal bone marrow function
Acute
Problems with which cell type will lead to an acute leukaemia?
Progenitor cells
Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia is a malignant disease of which cell?
Primitive lymphoid (lymphoblasts)
ALL is the most common cancer in which age group?
Children
ALL will commonly involve which areas?
CNS
Testis
Bones
Acute myeloid leukaemia is a malignant disease of which cell?
Primitive myeloid (myeloblasts)
