Bone Marrow Aspiration (BMA) cytology is an important diagnostic and monitoring tool where cytological details of the marrow elements are examined using light microscopy. Various hematological diseases are diagnosed and monitored by using BMA. This study aimed at reporting a 3-year BMA experience of Department of Hematology and Blood Transfusion of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital (ATBUTH) Bauchi. This was a retrospective study that involved the use of records of the bone marrow aspirates done from January 1st, 2016 to December 31st, 2018. The age, sex, indications for BMA, anatomical site and final bone marrow diagnosis were collated. The data was analyzed using SPSS Version 23.0 software. One hundred and three (103) bone marrow aspirations were performed during the period under review. Two third of the participants were males, with the median age of 40.0 years and a range of 5 months to 92 years. The commonest indication for BMA was recurrent anemia 45.6%, followed by splenomegaly, fever and lymphadenopathy with 11.7% each. While, the commonest diagnosis by BMA was megaloblastic anemia (28.2%). Mixed nutritional deficiency and Bone Marrow (BM) metastasis are the commoner BMA diagnoses with 12.6% each. Recurrent anemia is the commonest indication for BMA and nutritional anemias (megaloblastic and combined nutrients deficiency) are the commonest BMA diagnoses in Bauchi. Proper evaluation of patients by the clinicians before referral is recommended to ensure that only those that really need the procedure are subjected to it.

Bbackground: Blood transfusion is an essential lifesaving procedure in medical practice. The source of blood for donation can be from Voluntary Non-remunerated Donors (VNRDs), Family Replacement Donors, Commercial/Paid donors and Autologous Donors. The VNRD has been recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). The situation in developing countries like Nigeria is different as there is scarcity of VNRDs which can be attributed to ignorance, fear, misconceptions regarding blood and blood products donation and transfusion. Objective: This study aimed to determine the pattern of blood donations and reasons for deferral in Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital Bauchi. Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective study where records of blood donors that presented to the Blood Bank of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital (ATBUTH) Bauchi from January, 2018 to December 2019 were collected. Data was analyzed using Microsoft excel 2016. Ethical approval for the study was obtained from the Research and Ethics committee of ATBUTH Bauchi. Results: There were 19,406 prospective donors who presented for donation during the period under review. Of the 19,406 prospective donors, 24.7% (4,786/19406) were deferred from donation for various reasons including seropositivity to transfusion transmissible pathogens (70.3%), low blood level (anaemia) (20.5%), low weight (1.3%), among others. Females constituted only 2.4% (354/14,620) of the blood donors. Ninety eight percent (14,423/14,620) were family replacement donors while no commercial donors were seen during the period under review. Conclusion and Recommendations: There is a low rate of voluntary and female blood donation as well as a high donor deferral rate in our environment. We therefore recommend increased advocacy for regular voluntary non-remunerated blood donation by the community as well as encouraging more female participation in blood donation.

Background: Haematological malignancies are clonal disorders of haemopoietic stem cells that are characterized by abnormal proliferation and accumulation of malignant cells in the various body tissues and organs. Objective: The objective of the study was to determine the pattern of haematological malignancies in Bauchi Sate, Northeastern Nigeria. Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective study where records of haematological malignancies diagnosed in the Haematology and Histopathology departments of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital Bauchi from the bone marrow aspiration cytology register as well as the cancer registry respectively from 1st January, 2018 to 31st December, 2020 were collected. Data on socio-demographic characteristics of the patients were also collected. The collated data were analyzed using SPSS Version 20.0. Continuous variables with z-scores within ±2.58 for skewness and kurtosis were considered to be normally distributed. Normally distributed data were reported as means ± standard deviations (SD) while non-normally distributed data were reported as median (interquartile ranges). Categorical data were reported as percentages. Results: Seventy-one (71) cases of haematological malignancies were diagnosed during the period under review in which a total of 601 cancer cases were diagnosed, constituting a frequency of 11.8% of all cancers. The median (IQR) age of the patients diagnosed with haematological malignancies was 18.9(6.2) with a range of 2.5 to 70 years. Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) was the commonest while T-cell Non-Hodgkin lymphoma was the least diagnosis during the period under review. The distribution of the histologic subtypes of Hodgkin lymphomas (HL) revealed nodular sclerosis and mixed cellularity as the commonest subtypes with equal frequency (4/7 (42.9%) each) while no cases of lymphocyte rich and lymphocyte depleted were seen. Conclusion: Haematological malignancies are common in our setting and acute lymphoblastic leukaemia is the commonest malignancy in our environment. Physicians are encouraged to be looking for the early symptoms and signs of these malignancies.