New York State Department of Health - Wadsworth Center - Cytohematology Proficiency Testing

Slide 013 [100X]

This specimen was taken from a patient diagnosed with acute myelomonocytic leukemia (AMML). The cells were myeloblasts that contained an oval, slightly indented nucleus eccentrically and centrally placed. Multiple nucleoli and fine chromatin material are prominent within the nucleus. The cytoplasm is blue. Blue cytoplasm is often seen in atypical lymphocytes. However, the nuclei of atypical lymphocytes contain more mature chromatin material. The response of atypical lymphocyte was accepted, because it was needed to obtain a consensus. Acceptable responses for this slide were myeloblast (code 04), blast cell present but not classified (code 01), lymphoblast (code 05) and atypical lymphocyte (code 52). This slide was misidentified by 1 laboratory as a myelocyte (code 44) and by 5 laboratories as a monocyte (code 49).

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