No abstract

Acute leukaemia of ambiguous lineage (ALAL) is a rare form of leukaemia in which morphologic, cytochemical and immuno-phenotypic features of the proliferating blasts lack sufficient evidence to classify them as myeloid or lymphoid in origin or have characteristics of both myeloid and lymphoid cells. We report a 22-year old man presenting with clinical features of an acute lymphoblastic leukaemia but blasts in his blood and bone marrow with morphological features of myeloblasts. His immunophenotyping by flowcytometry showed antigens specific for both myeloid and B-lymphoid lineages. We highlight the importance of correlating clinical features with cellular morphology when diagnosing acute leukaemias, especially when facilities for flowcytometry are not routinely available.