Radioisotope examination of hairy-cell leukemia patients

13 patients with hairy-cell leukemia were simultaneously tested using different radioisotope methods (scintiscan of the spleen and bone marrow, total blood volume and erythrocytic pool in the spleen, erythrocyte and platelet kinetics). Some of the methods (bone marrow scintiscan, total blood volume and erythrocytic pool in the spleen, and kinetic studies) produced characteristic results in those patients: they could add precision to the diagnosis of the disease, and they could also be used for better elucidation of the pathogenic mechanisms of other clinical signs characteristic of hairy-cell leukemia. In spite of the undeniably significant value of the said methods for precise diagnosis of hairy-cell leukemia, histological tests of the bioptic material of bone marrow and spleen and bone marrow needle biopsy remain better and indispensable methods. (author)