Single institute study of FLT3 mutation in acute myeloid leukemia with near tetraploidy in Serbia.

Patients with de novo acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and near-tetraploid or completely tetraploid karyotype at presentation are rare. We present four patients with near-tetraploidy/tetraploidy in a cohort of 426 consecutive AML patients (0.98%) in respect to their cytogenetic findings, immunophenotype pattern, response to chemotherapy, course of disease and molecular analyses including tyrosine kinase receptor FLT3 gene, NRAS gene, and tumour suppressor gene, p53. We have found FLT3/ITD mutation only in one patient among the four with near-tetraploidy. The main finding is that these patients had a variable clinical course, with two having a long period of remission (36 and 12 months) and two died, not having achieved remission.