Detection of the Mbcr/abl translocation in chronic myeloid leukemia by fluorescence in situ hybridization: comparison with conventional cytogenetics and implications for minimal residual disease detection.

Abstract The correlation between the detection of the Philadelphia chromosome by conventional cytogenetics and the identification of Mbcr/ abl translocation by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) in both metaphase and interphase cells is prospectively analyzed in a group of 21 chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients. To gain insight into the sensitivity and specificity of the detection of the bcr/abl translocation by FISH, a group of 10 healthy volunteers was also studied. Our results show that for the detection of bcr/abl translocation in CML patients, FISH is more sensitive than conventional cytogenetics because it detects significantly higher proportions of cells carrying the translocation both in metaphase ( P P −1 .