Abstract
BACKGROUND: Pancytopenia is a relatively common hematological entity resulting from a variety of disease processes. The present study is carried out to find out the causes of pancytopenia by bone marrow examination. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Bone marrow examination is carried out in 120 cases of pancytopenia over a period of 3 years. Age of patients ranged from 2 to 75 years with a mean of 32 years. Most of the patients presented with generalized weakness and fever. Commonest physical finding was pallor followed by splenomegaly. Dimorphic anemia was the predominant blood picture. The commonest marrow finding was megaloblastic erythroid hyperplasia. The commonest cause of pancytopenia was megaloblastic anemia (58.3%) followed by aplastic anemia (18.3%). Others include acute leukemia, myelodysplasia, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and disseminated tuberculosis. CONCLUSION: The present study shows the importance of bone marrow examination in evaluating pancytopenia and the geographical variation in the etiology as megaloblastic anemia is the predominant cause of pancytopenia in Indian subcontinent.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
