SPECTRUM OF CYTOGENETIC ABNORMALITIES IN PEDIATRIC PATIENTS WITH ACUTE MYELOID LEUKEMIA

Objective: To determine the frequency and types of cytogenetic abnormalities in pediatric Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Material and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted from January 2021 to October 2021 in Hematology department of the CHUGHTAI Institute of Pathology in Lahore Pakistan. Total 60 patients who were newly diagnosed with Acute myeloid leukemia in CHUGHTAI Institute of Pathology and were also referred from Children Hospital Lahore were included. Patients under the age of 16 years and from both gender were included. Informed consent was taken from patient’s guardian/parents. Patients had their bone marrow aspirates processed for standard G-banding and their karyotypes were examined using a cyto-vision system, where the number of chromosomes was counted and examined for any changes, such as damaged, missing, rearranged, or additional copies of chromosomes. Morphology, immunophenotyping of aspirate, and trephine biopsy are used to make the diagnosis of AML. Data was entered in SPSS version 23.0. Result: There were total 60 patients included in the study. The mean age was 10.2+ 3.2 years. There were n=32(53.3%) males and n=28(46.6%) female. Normal karyotype was observed in n=36(60%) patients, abnormal were seen in n=14(23.3%) and unsuccessful was shown in n=10(16.6%) patients. Favorable cytogenetic results were seen in n=6 (10%), intermediate in n=41 (68.3%), and unfavorable in n=4 (6.6%) cases. t(8;21) (q22:q22) and t(15;17)(q24;q21) were found in 8.3% and 1.6% of our study population respectively which have favorable prognosis . One of our patients had complex cytogenetic abnormalities, including [del5p, del7q, del11q-17+] which shows poor prognosis. Conclusion: The study discovered that 14 (23.3%) of the total pediatric patients with acute myeloid leukemia showed aberrant cytogenetic abnormalities. Chromosomal abnormalities should be identified as early as possible since they can be used for AML risk stratification and prediction of prognosis. Keywords: Acute myeloid leukemia, Complex cytogenetic, Cyto-vision, Karyotype, Morphology, Pediatric