Time point-dependent concordance of flow cytometry and real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction for minimal residual disease detection in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Within the current BFM-based protocols, flow cytometry and polymerase chain reaction cannot simply substitute each other at single time points, and the concordance rates between their results depend largely on the time at which they are used. Our findings suggest a potential complementary role of the two technologies in optimizing risk stratification in future clinical trials.