Publication:

Clinical and hematological profile of pancytopenia in a tertiary care hospital of Southern Odisha, India

Background Pancytopenia (anemia, thrombocytopenia and leukopenia) is a common haematological condition with various etiologies like ineffective haematopoiesis, bone marrow suppression, bone marrow infiltration and peripheral destruction of blood cells. The present study was done to see the clinical features and etiologies of pancytopenia in this geographical region.

Methods About 150 patients above 15 years of age after fulfilling the inclusion criteria were included in the study. They were evaluated with appropriate laboratory tests including bone marrow study, if indicated to find out the underlying etiology.

Results Common symptoms were generalized weakness (93.3%), fever (75.3%) and dyspnoea (54%). Common physical findings were pallor (100%), lymphadenopathy (43.6%) and hepatosplenomegaly (32%). Most common causes were aplastic anemia (28%), megaloblastic anemia (20%) followed by infections like malaria (13.3%), dengue (5.3%) and sepsis (1.3%). Bone marrow was hypocellular in 50 patients (41.7%), hypercellular in 45 patients (37.5%) and normocellular in 25 patients (20.8%).

Conclusions There are some reversible causes of pancytopenia like megaloblastic anemia, malaria, dengue and sepsis. Conditions like disseminated TB, collagen vascular diseases also can be treated with specific treatment if diagnosed early to avoid further complications.