Study of hematological profile of adults presenting with pancytopenia in a tertiary care hospital of central India

Abstract

Background: Pancytopenia is defined as the simultaneous presence of anemia, leukopenia, and thrombocytopenia. The present study was undertaken to explore various causes and clinical manifestations of pancytopenia and to correlate them with severity of pancytopenia in adult patients of Malwa region of central India. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted in Department of Pathology of our Institute with the help of clinical departments such as medicine, surgery, oncology, and others. Two hundred and fifty-one admitted adult male and female patients from October 2015 to March 2017 (18 months) presenting with pancytopenia were included in the study. Tests for complete blood count, peripheral smear, reticulocyte count, bleeding time, clotting time, bone marrow aspiration, and trephine biopsy were done. Results: Among all the hematological disorders (202/251) causing pancytopenia, the most common was megaloblastic anemia (98/202, 48.51%) followed by dimorphic anemia (36/202, 17.8%) and aplastic anemia (18/202, 8.9%). Least common causes included hemolytic anemia (2/202) and disseminated intravascular coagulation (2/202), that is, 0.99% each. Conclusion: Thus, a comprehensive, clinical, and hematological study of patients with pancytopenia will usually help in identifying the underlying cause. The early detection of the underlying conditions would also help to enhance the prognosis of patients with pancytopenia.