Immunophenotypic characterization of the leukemic cells has been widely used as a tool for diagnosis, classification and prognosis of leukaemia. A total of 192 Chinese patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) were immunophenotyped by flow cytometry using a panel of monoclonal antibodies. Among the 192 patients enrolled in this study, 125 cases were also subjected to karyotype analysis by G-banding technology. We found that CD33, CD13, MPO and CD117 were the most commonly expressed antigens in AML. A combination of intensive autofluorescence, both CD34(-) and HLA-DR(-), and high expression of CD13, CD33 and MPO had significant value for M3 diagnosis. CD14 was expressed only in M4 and M5, and both intensive positivity of CD64 and CD15 with high expression of HLA-DR may suggest great possibility for diagnosis of M5. Lymphoid markers expression was documented in 47.9% of the 192 AML cases analyzed. CD56 (26.0%) and CD7 (20.8%) were the most commonly expressed lymphoid markers in AML patients. Abnormal karyotypes were detected in 76 out of 125 (60.8%). Higher CD34 positivity was found in LymAg(+) group (77.2%) than in LymAg(-) group (48.0%). Our results indicate that immunophenotype analysis was useful for AML diagnosis and classification and the immunophenotype did have relevance to the abnormal cytogenetic changes and clinical features in AML.