Haematological indices and bone marrow morphology in pancytopenia/bicytopenia

Introduction Pancytopenia is an important clinicohaematological entity encountered in our day-to-day clinical practice. The possible underlying aetiologies range from transient viral marrow suppression to left-threatening malignant neoplasm. The aetiological diagnosis is essential for the clinical management and prognosis of the patient. Materials and methods In this study, a total of 75 cases of pancytopenia/bicytopenia were studied. Complete evaluation of clinical findings, haematological indices and bone marrow examination was carried out. Results Megaloblastic anaemia (29.3%) was the most common cause of pancytopenia/bicytopenia, followed by hypoplastic/aplastic anaemia (18.6%) and leukaemia (17.3%). Macrocytic anaemia was the predominant finding observed when studying peripheral smears, and a few cases of normocytic or microcytic anaemia were observed. Hypercellular marrow was seen in 68% of cases, whereas hypocellular marrow was present in 21.3% of cases. Conclusion Haematological indices and bone aspiration complemented with trephine biopsy is a useful, simple, economical and safe diagnostic tool in the evaluation of pancytopenia/bicytopenia.