Rizwan Aziz Qazi, Ayesha Masood.
Diagnostic Evaluation of Pancytopenia.
J Rawal Med Coll Jan ;6(1):30-3.

Background: To find out common aetiologies of pancytopenia. Methods: Data of 100 consecutive patients with laboratory evidence of pancytopenia was collected systematically over a period of 14 months beginning from December; 99. Final diagnosis was based on bone marrow examination findings. Results: The most common cause was found to be megaloblastic anemia (28%). Other causes in decreasing order were aplastic anemia, haematologic malignancies and reactive haemophagocytic syndrome respectively. These four constituted 87% of the total. Hypersplenism, myelodysplastic syndromes, myelofibrosis, and multiple myeloma were found to be the diagnoses amongst the rest. One patient each had SLE and HIV. Conclusions: Megaloblastic anemia responsive clinically to vitamin B12 and/or folate is the commonest cause of pancytopenia. Aplastic anemia is the second most common cause. Reactive haemophagocytic syndrome, previously not very well recognized, has come up as a prominent cause of pancytopenia.

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