We reported a young patient with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) with eosinophilia, in which her chromosomal analysis revealed the presence of trisomy X and a marker chromosome at chromosome 11. The technique used to detect the chromosomal abnormalities is a multicoloured –fluorescent in situ hybridization technique (M-FISH). Our observation suggested that these underlying chromosomal abnormalities were probably responsible for her development of MDS with eosinophilia. Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) is a condition whereby there is ineffective production of haematopoietic stem cells and poor quality of cells produced. The cause can either be a primary bone marrow problem, de novo or therapy related. Most MDS cases are secondary rather than primary. Many chromosomal abnormalities have been found in cases of myelodysplastic syndrome. We described a case of MDS with eosinophilia in association with presence of trisomy X and a marker chromosome in chromosome 11.

Clonal disorders of LGL may either be CD3+ CD56- or CD3- CD56+ phenotype and these have been designated as T-cell leukaemia (T-LGL) or natural killer cell (NK)-LGL leukaemia respectively. Clonality is usually demonstrated by clonal rearrangement of T-cell receptor gene rearrangement or identified by flowcytometry analysis. Most patients with T-LGL will have an indolent course. In this report we described an aggressiveness of disease in a patient with clonal CD3+ LGL leukaemia whose cells also co-expressed CD56 diagnosed by flowcytometry. The patient responded well to interrupt ALL standard risk protocol however succumbed to her disease while waiting for upfront stem cell transplant. This case highlights on both the classical laboratory findings of rare entity of disease as well as a review of the literature pertaining particularly on its management.

Molecular pathogenesis of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is well established and molecular monitoring for patients with CML has become an important practice in the management of patients on imatinib therapy. In the present study, we report the use of RQ-PCR method for detection of BCR-ABL fusion gene for our CML cases. We performed a two-step RQ-PCR on bone marrow aspirates or peripheral blood of 37 CML patients. Quantitative expression of BCR-ABL fusion gene was carried out relative to the expression of a housekeeping gene as endogenous control to compensate for uneven cell numbers, RNA quality, or variations in reverse transcription effi ciencies. Twenty-four of these patients were pre-treated with hydroxyurea or alpha interferon prior to the imatinib therapy. Their BCR-ABL fusion gene levels were monitored for 18 months. All samples processed were evaluable. The PCR amplifi cation effi ciency of the ABL gene is 90.5% (0.2158) and the BCR-ABL gene, 93.4% (0.1573).

Red cell alloimmunisation is defined as the development of antibodies in response to foreign red cell antigens through transfusion or pregnancy. In pregnant women even without the history of previous blood transfusion, this is possible through previous or current pregnancy with the presence of paternal red cell antigen inherited by the fetus. This study was aimed to determine the prevalence of red cell alloimmunisation among pregnant women without previous history of blood transfusion and the association with number of pregnancy and history of obstetric complications. This was a cross-sectional study in which 150 pregnant women were randomly selected from the antenatal clinic. Ten mls of peripheral blood was obtained for antibody screening using indirect antiglobulin test besides the routine antenatal screening. In this study, the majority (37.3%) of the women were primigravidae. Red cell alloantibodies were detected in two out of 150 (1.3%) patients which were subsequently identified as anti-C and anti-D. However none of the primigravida was alloimmunised. One woman of gravida 2 (2.9%) and gravida 3 (3.6%) each were positive for alloimmunisation. One of them also had a bad obstetric history. This study showed that the prevalence of red cell alloimmunisation among pregnant women was low in this centre. Nevertheless, red cell alloantibody screening test should be made available to reduce possible complications of alloimmunisation in mothers and fetuses.