Muhammad Javed Asif, Zafar Iqbal, Farooq Alam, Abdul Hayee.
Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia: A morphological study of 103 cases.
Pak Postgrad Med J Jan ;11(2):47-53.

This study was conducted in the Hematology Department of Shaikh Zayed Hospital, Lahore. The study period extended from January 1994 to June 2000. A total of 103 consecutive patients of acute lymboblastic leukemia (ALL) were diagnosed during this period. Patients of all age groups and both sexes were included. Seventy one (68.9%) of these patients were male and 32 (31.1%) were female (M:F ratio 2.21:1). Median age at the time of diagnosis was 8 years (range 0.6-60 years). ALL was the most frequent type of acute leukaemia in children (ALL:AML ratio 2.3:1), whereas AML was more frequent in adults (ALL:AML ratio 1:2.9). 76% of the total ALL cases were diagnosed in children upto 15 years of age. Overall distribution of ALL subtypes showed L1 (55.3%), L2 (41.8%) and L3 (2.9%). FAB subtype distribution in children and adults showed a contrasting pattern for L1 and L2. In children Li was the most frequent subtype. In comparison, L2 was the most frequent subtype in adults. L1:L2 ratio in children was 1.8:1 and 1:2 in adults. Incidence of ALL showed a peak in children upto 5 years of age with a subsequent decline thereafter. ALL-Li mainly accounted for this early age peak.

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