Clinical, hematological, and cytogenetic profile of aplastic anemia

Background Aplastic anemia manifests as peripheral blood cytopenias due to inability of the hematopoietic bone marrow to produce blood cells. Aims and objective The aim of this study was to investigate the differences in the clinicohematological profile of pediatric and adult aplastic anemia patients, if any, to establish the necessity of bone marrow biopsy for its diagnosis and to detect any chromosomal abnormality in the patients. Setting and design This study was carried out in the Departments of Pathology, Paediatrics, and General Medicine, and Centre for Genetic Disorders, in a university teaching hospital over 24 months. Materials and methods A total of 42 patients were diagnosed combining the clinical features, peripheral blood counts, and bone marrow examination. Of them, 24 patients were evaluated for cytogenetic abnormality. Statistical analysis All the observations were evaluated using simple and basic statistical tools — for example, range, mean, and median. Results Occurrence of severe anemia and frequency of leukopenia and absolute neutropenia were more common in children. The degree of leukopenia and absolute neutropenia was more severe in children. Because of frequent occurrence of blood tap and dry tap, diagnosis in many cases depended solely on bone marrow biopsy findings. All the core biopsy specimens floated after proper decalcification. Lymphocyte culture failed in nine cases, and the remaining 15 cases showed no cytogenetic abnormality. Conclusion Bone marrow biopsy is mandatory for diagnosing aplastic anemia. The findings of core biopsy floatation and its correlation with marrow cellularity and absence of chromosomal abnormality in aplastic anemia need larger studies to give any statistically significant opinion.