INTRODUCTION– Flow cytometry is an important diagnostic tool in confirming and typing acute leukemias. In a setup where limited number of antibodies are available, preliminary graph of SSC Vs CD45 can be helpful in differentiating acute lymphoblastic leukemia and acute myeloid leukemia. OBJECTIVE To distinguish between acute leukemias using SSC vs CD45 plot. METHOD– Clinical features, PS and BM aspirate findings and flow cytometry of all the patients were performed. The main parameter was to study the SSC vs CD45 plot. The width, height, width/height ratio (w/h) of the blast cluster was calculated. 50 cases were studied. 19 cases were ALL and 31 were AML. The w/h ratio in ALL cases was >1.6 and in cases of AML it was <1.6.1 CONCLUSION– The visual shape and w/h ratio of the blast cluster in SSC vs CD45 plot can be used as a preliminary parameter to distinguish between ALL and AML.