Effect of Alcohol on Haemopoiesis

Abstract

The present study of a group of 16 alcoholic patients without cirrhosis showed that disturbance of haemopoiesis was common even in the absence of anaemia. Radioactive ferrokinetic studies in six subjects showed depressed iron utilization by the bone marrow; this improved after withdrawal of alcohol. Bonemarrow aspiration showed cytoplasmic or nuclear vacuolation of early myeloid and erythroid precursors in 14 of the 16 patients, and when repeated in 10 patients one week later it showed that the vacuolation had disappeared in nine and was much less obvious in one. These observations suggest a direct toxic effect of alcohol on the bone marrow. There was also a high incidence of both folic acid (approximately 50%) and iron (approximately 30%) deficiency in the present study. None of the patients was vitamin-B 2-deficient. © 1966, British Medical Journal Publishing Group. All rights reserved.