[Cytological features of acute leukaemia in the central region of Tunisia]

ABSTRACT

In Tunisia, because of an absence of population registry, data on acute leukaemia are scarce. We studied the epidemiological and cytological characteristic of 193 patients with acute leukaemia. Haemograms were carried out and slides for peripheral blood and bone marrow were prepared for each patient. The age range of the patients was 10 months to 83 years with a predominance of males [ratio 1.27]. As regards type of leukaemia, 40.4% had acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, 51.8% had acute myeloblastic leukemia and 7.8% were unclassified. Diagnosis was made at less than 10 years in 31.6% of cases and 72% of these were the lymphoblastic type. Anaemia [Hb < 11 g/dL was found in 85% of cases, thrombocytopenia [platelets < 100 000/mm3] in 80.5% and hyperleukocytosis [WBC > 100 000/mm3] in 14.5% of cases with blasts in peripheral blood in 92% of cases