Towards standardization in immunophenotyping hematological malignancies. How can we improve the reproducibility and comparability of flow cytometric results?

Standardisation in immunophenotyping of hematological malignancies represents an important tool for the achievement of repiroducibility and compariability of results in multicenter trials. n order to get this goal, it is mandatory t make an effort in standardising techinical procedures, which can result in an improvenament in the concordance rates between different centres. Furthermore, the diagnostic and prognostic implications which can derive from the establisliment of consensus standards for the immunophenotyping ot leukemias could be relevant in many of these di sorder, particularly acute leukemias. In conclusion, in order to achieve a consensus on flow cytometry analysis of leukemic samples, both technological aspects, and reagents need to be standardised. It is likely that the establishment of consensus standards will lead to a considerable improvement in the comparability and reproducibility of the results within and between different centres, and will represent a basis for quality assurance and control programs. We hope that an algorithm for cell acquisition and analysis will be developed in the next few years, allowing an improvement in the concordance rates between different centres participating to mul ticenter trials.