ACUTE LYMPHOBLASTIC-LEUKEMIA AND THE LYMPHOBLASTIC LYMPHOMAS OF CHILDHOOD

Recent advances in diagnosis, treatment, and tumor biology of the lymp hoid blastic malignancies have challenged historical concepts and crea ted a need for revised classification of these diseases, The authors r eview this material and present a classification relevant to current t herapeutic protocols and available biological data, Further advances i n understanding of these diseases can be anticipated, with possible fu rther evolution of classification, The exact clinical role of sensitiv e studies to monitor residual disease during and after treatment remai ns to be established, These diseases may present difficult differentia l diagnostic problems, The importance of accurate diagnosis cannot be overemphasized, as highly successful but divergent treatments have evo lved for these various hematopoietic diseases, Diagnostic problems are usually resolved with systematic analysis including careful morpholog y, cytochemistry, immunologic analysis, and addition of EM and other s tudies in selected circumstances. Copyright (C) 1995 by W.B. Saunders Company