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. 2019 Oct 23;11(11):1625. doi: 10.3390/cancers11111625

Table 1.

Reasons for inadequate measurable residual disease test results.

Confounding Factors False Negative Results False Positive Results
patient or disease related factors
  • -

    MRD target not consistently present in all AML cells

  • -

    heterogeneous distribution of leukemic cells in bone marrow

  • -

    relapse in tissue not assessed, e.g., chloroma or central nervous system
  • -

    follow-up time too short or treatment related death

  • -

    GvL effect after allogeneic HSCT

  • -

    tested MRD target present on healthy or pre-leukemic cells
sampling related factors
  • -

    sample size too small

  • -

    inadequate storing/shipping conditions, too much time from sampling to analysis

  • -

    PB as used specimen or diluted BM samples
  • -

    sample contamination
assay related factors
  • -

    low assay sensitivity
  • -

    external contamination

  • -

    analysis of dead cells

Abbreviations: BM, bone marrow; GvL, graft-versus-leukemia; HSCT, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation; MRD, measurable residual disease; PB, peripheral blood.