Comparative analysis of immunophenotypic methods for the assessment of minimal residual disease in hairy cell leukemia.

Hairy cell leukemia patients in complete remission may have minimal residual disease (MRD). We performed flow cytometry (FCM) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) to detect MRD in 15 patients. FCM and IHC detected MRD+ in 64% and 46 % of the patients, respectively. MRD+ did not predict relapse.