Introduction:

The minimal residual disease is the permanence of residual leukemic cells at subclinical levels after remission of the disease. This condition increases the risk of relapse and mortality.

Objective:

To characterize the clinical and molecular factors of patients with acute leukemias and minimal residual disease detected by flow cytometry in a highly complex institution in the city of Medellín, Colombia during the years 2015 - 2017.

Methodology:

This is a retrospective descriptive observational study, which included patients with leukemia diagnosed by flow cytometry. A non-probabilistic sampling of consecutive cases was carried out. The information collected was entered into a database in Excel, and the analysis was carried out through the IBM SPSS Version 24 program, using absolute and relative frequencies, average and standard deviation or median and interquartile ranges, according to the nature of each variable and its distribution.

Results:

60 patients were included in which male sex predominated with 63.3% (38). The most frequent diagnosis was lymphoid leukemia with 78.3% (47). Of the total patients included, 36.6% (22) were positive for minimal residual disease; 28.3% received a bone marrow transplant and 10% (6) had a cerebrospinal fluid compromise. In the second cytometry of the patients with minimal residual disease, 90.9% (20) expressed CD45 +. 31.8% (7) of the patients with minimal residual disease relapsed.

Conclusion:

Minimal residual disease is a frequent pathology in patients with acute leukemias that requires follow-up and constitutes a relevant prognostic factor.

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