What is a karyotype for acute lymphocytic leukemia?

Let me see what is?: Karyotype means chromosome abnormaility. It can occur in any type of leukemia, but it is uncommon in acute lymphocytic leukemia. Let your oncologist/hematologist decide whether or when to do it and explain to you what it means.

A karyotype is ...: A technique that lets us see the gross structural features of the chromosomes in a cell. Cells are forced to enter mitosis but then are arrested in metaphase with a drug called nocodazole. The chromosomes can the be seen under the microscop which lets is see their number and structure. All cells can have multiple abnormalities that can be seen by karyotype, but may be normal as well.

The karyotype...: of a cell simply means the number and gross structural appearance of the chromosomes. For a normal cell, the karyotype is 46,XX (for females) or 46,XY (for males). Acute leukemias often have abnormal karyotypes as determined by a cytogenetic analysis (with a light microscope) or with FISH (using fluorescent DNA probes). Karyotype abnormalities may include more, fewer, or broken chromosomes.

Yes: Chromosomal abnormalities, such as t(9;22)(q34;q11) (abl/bcr), t(12;21)(p13;q22) (tel/aml1), and t(11q23) (mll) are independent prognostic indicators in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Yes: A karyotype is the description of the appearance of a cells chromosomes under the microscope. If the question is whether there are abnormal karyotypes that are commonly seen in ALL, and whether these karyotypes are useful for the diagnosis, prognosis, and the choice of treatment; the answer is "YES" to all of the above.