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Maryalice
>
> I have been "listening" to the discussion about the
>confusion between terms like "follicular lymphoma" and
>specific immunophenotypes with interest because this is a
>topic of interest to me for many years. At the risk of
>offending some of my good friends on this list I would like to
>add my two cents to the discussion and maybe expand it
>somewhat.
> I think that we are all gratified that the continual evolution in
>lymphoma classification has begun to utilize
>immunophenotypic descriptions more and more - this is long
>overdue. However, we must remember that all of the
>historical classifications, especially those including such
>terms as "follicular", "mantle", etc. are based on (highly
>subjective in my view) morphology. We now seem to be in a
>transition phase between morphologic descriptions and
>immunophenotypic and genetic definitions of these diseases.
> We are asking for a lot of confusion, and we are doing
>ourselves a disservice, if we keep trying to align morphologic
>descriptions with specific immunophenotypes.
> In my view, it is especially unfortunate when we create new
>disease entities based not upon clinical criteria but upon
>variations in our own classification systems. For example:
>is a CD10 positive follicular lymphoma a different disease
>than CD10 negative follicular lymphoma? We shouldn't
>mistake a failure of our multiple classification systems for
>new diseases!
> This may a lengthy restatement of the obvious, but I needed
>to say it - and I feel better now!
> Ken Ault
>
Maryalice Stetler-Stevenson
Director Flow Cytometry Unit
Laboratory of Pathology, NCI, NIH
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CD-ROM Vol 3 was produced by Monica M. Shively and other staff at the
Purdue University Cytometry Laboratories and distributed free of charge
as an educational service to the cytometry community.
If you have any comments please direct them to
Dr. J. Paul Robinson, Professor & Director,
PUCL, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907.
Phone: (765)-494-0757;
FAX(765) 494-0517;
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