ROLE OF FLOW CYTOMETRIC IMMUNOPHENOTYPING IN PLASMA CELL DYSCRASIAS

Immunophenotyping is being routinely used for the diagnosis of leukemias. With the advent of specific markers for plasma cells, it has become possible to differentiate between benign and malignant plasma cells based on their immunophenotypic profile. The enhanced use of immunophenotyping in plasma cells dyscrasias may help to categorize the borderline cases which can not be done with morphology alone. Also the immunophenotypic profiling of plasma cells would help in Minimal Residual Disease (MRD) evaluation of patients on treatment of multiple myeloma (MM).