Objective: To study the cytologic features and role of fine needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) in the diagnosis of extramedullary leukemia.
Study design: Forty-one cases of extramedullary leukemia diagnosed by FNAB were analyzed along with their detailed clinical and hematologic features.
Results: Common sites of leukemic involvement were lymph nodes (34), skin (4), orbit (1), eyelid (1) and breast (1). The most common variety of leukemia was chronic myeloid in the chronic phase (17). Twenty-six patients were referred to the cytology clinic for FNAB as the initial screening test. In the majority of fresh cases, leukemia was not the first possibility considered, and FNAB played an important diagnostic role. No gross discrepancy was noted in any of the cases.
Conclusion: FNAB is helpful in the diagnosis of extramedullary involvement by leukemia because of the good morphologic detail of blasts and other granulocytic cells. However, for more accurate subclassification of a hematologic disorder, other hematologic investigations are mandatory.