Epidemiology and diagnosis of acute leukemia in Ravoahangy Andrianavalona hospital Antananarivo Madagascar

Data on acute leukemia (AL) are few in Madagascar. Our aim was to describe the epidemiologic and cytological appearance of acute leukemia in the hematology laboratory at the University Hospital Joseph Ravoahangy Andrianavalona Antananarivo. We made a descriptive and analytical retrospective study of patient records with LA between January 2013 and December 2014 classified by the criteria of the French-American-British group. During this period, 357 cytological study of bone marrow were performed including 91 cases (25.5%) of AL. The age of patients ranged from 2 months to 79 years with predominance of male patients (ratio= 1,38). The AL affect all ages with a higher frequency in children. Cytology and cytochemistry had recovered 56% (n=5) acute myeloid leukemia (AML), 42,9% (n=39) acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and one case of biphenotypic acute leukemia. According to criteria’s of French-American-British (FAB) group, 36,5% (n=18) of AML were AML 2 and 25% (n=13) were AML 1. There was a predominance of ALL 2 for the ALL. Cytology have an important place in the diagnosis of AL, however, the study of other markers such as cytogenetics, immunophenotyping and molecular biology has become necessary.