A study protocol for clinico-pathological diagnosis of hematological malignancies in a tertiary care hospital in central India [version 1; peer review: awaiting peer review]

There is a paucity of a relevant national registry or any individual center study on clinico-pathological profiles of acute/chronic leukemias and multiple myeloma from central India. The proposed observational, prospective, longitudinal study in a rural tertiary center hospital in central India therefore intends to combine diagnostic techniques like peripheral blood smears, immunophenotyping via flow cytometry, bone marrow aspiration, and cytogenetic studies along with World Health Organisation and French-American-British classification for sub-typing, to accurately diagnose acute/chronic leukaemia and multiple myeloma. A total of 55 patients with any clinical suspicion of leukaemia and myeloma will be followed-up for a one-year period post diagnosis to ascertain if the patient is in complete or partial remission, or in a relapsed disease state. Furthermore, these diagnostic techniques will be compared in terms of their effectiveness and if these could substitute or complement each other keeping the limitations of Indian health settings in mind.