Flow Cytometry in the Diagnosis of Mediastinal Tumors with Emphasis on Differentiating Thymocytes from Precursor T-Lymphoblastic Lymphoma/Leukemia

Flow cytometry (FC) has become the routine technique in the evaluation of hematopoietic neoplasms. Since the anterior mediastinum is a frequent site of involvement by both primary and secondary lymphoma/leukemia, flow cytometry plays an important role in the evaluation of mediastinal masses. The present study reviews 100 flow cytometry cases from patients presenting with mediastinal lesions. In 5 cases (5%) flow cytometry was not diagnostic due to either insufficient cell yield or low viability. In the remaining cases (95/100) cell suspensions were adequate for flow cytometry evaluation. Results showed that in 31/32 (96.8%), 2/3 (66.7%), 7/9 (77.8%), 7/8 (87.5%) and 11/11 (100%) cases of B-cell lymphoma, T-cell lymphoma, carcinoma, T-ALL/LBL and thymoma/thymic hyperplasia, respectively, the diagnosis could be reached by flow cytometry alone. Excluding HL, the general sensitivity of FC in diagnosing mediastinal tumors was approximately 92%. Among the 100 cases, flow cytometry gave non-informative results in 3 cases of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, 1 case of peripheral T-cell lymphoma, and 3 cases of carcinoma. No false positive results were encountered. The phenotypic pattern, especially surface CD3 expression versus forward scatter, reliably discriminated between immature thymocytes from thymoma/thymic hyperplasia from T-ALL/LBL. Flow methodology has the advantage of rapid turn-around time as well as high sensitivity, enabling patients with large anterior mediastinal masses and/or superior vena cava syndrome to begin treatment as promptly as possible. In experienced hands, flow cytometry plays a valuable and complementary role to histology and immunohistochemistry in diagnosing mediastinal tumors.