Aetiology of Pancytopenia

Abstract

Background: Pancytopenia is a reduction in the number of each type of peripheral blood cell. Therefore the role of bone marrow examintion in diagnosis of pancytopenia is important to know etiology of pancytopenia. The objective of the study was to know the aetiology of pancytopenia. Methods: This descriptive (Cross sectional) study was carried out in Khyber teaching hospital. Fifty patients with pancytopenia were included in the study from 1st January 2008 to 30th October 2008. Full blood counts, bone marrow examinations and trephine biopsies were performed according to standard methods. Statistical packages for social science (SPSS.11) was used to analyze data. Results: Out of 50 patients, 36% were of aplastic anaemia, 16% megaloblastic anaemia, 14% myelodysplastic syndrome and 12% acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), Hypersplenism in 10%, 4% non Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and 4% multiple myeloma, 2% each of acute myeloblastic leukemia and chronic myelocytic leukemia. All of these disorders were common in male as compared to female. Conclusions: Aplastic anaemia was the commonest cause of pancytopenia followed by megaloblastic anemia and myelodysplastic syndrome in our study.

Spectrum of Pancytopenia in Adults Attending a Clinical Hematology Department: A Four-Year Experience From a Tertiary Care Center of Western India

“…We reported hepatomegaly in 12.6% of cases. Rehmani et al and Tariq et al reported similar findings in their studies [ 14 , 17 ]. However, a higher prevalence of hepatomegaly was reported in a few other studies [ 5 , 6 , 15 , 18 ].…”

“…Splenomegaly was the second most common clinical finding found in our study observed in 22% of cases. Jain et al [ 20 ] and other studies [ 14 , 17 ] reported splenomegaly in similar frequency, while Khunger et al and Khodke et al observed splenomegaly in 32.5% and 40% of patients, respectively [ 5 , 15 ]. We reported hepatomegaly in 12.6% of cases.…”

“…Other studies have also reported similar results [ 15 , 16 ]. In contrast, 41-50 years was the most common age group for cases with pancytopenia in studies by Dasgupta et al and Tariq et al [ 4 , 17 ].…”

“…The second most common cause of pancytopenia in our study was megaloblastic anemia (15.4%). Various other studies have shown megaloblastic anemia to be the most common cause of pancytopenia with a reported frequency of 25% to 74% [ 3 , 5 , 6 , 10 , 15 , 17 , 24 , 25 ]. This is probably due to different patient populations in our study attending a clinical hematology department as opposed to general medicine or pathology departments in other studies.…”

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“…Pancytopenia is a clinical condition characterized by decrease in count of all cell lines in peripheral blood that is anemia (hemoglobin less than 12-14 gm/dl taking in account age and sex of patient), leucopenia (white cell count less than 4500×109/L) and thrombocytopenia( total platelet count less than 150000×109/L) [4]. Depending on the degree of each cytopenia, pancytopenia is further catalogued into mild moderate or severe.…”