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Pancytopenia is a medical
Medicine

Medicine is the art and science of healing. It encompasses a range of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
 condition in which there is a reduction in the number of red
Red blood cell

Red blood cells are the most common type of blood cell and the vertebrate body's principal means of delivering oxygen to the body tissues via the blood....
 and white blood cell
White blood cell

White blood cells , or leukocytes , are cell of the immune system defending the body against both infectious disease and foreign materials....
s, as well as platelet
Platelet

Platelets, or Thrombocyte, are small, irregularly shaped anuclear cells, 2-4?m in diameter, which are derived from fragmentation of precursor megakaryocytes....
s.

ytopenia is generally due to diseases affecting the bone marrow
Bone marrow

Bone marrow is the flexible biological tissue found in the hollow interior of bones. In adults, marrow in large bones produces new blood cells....
, although peripheral destruction of all lines of blood cells in hypersplenism (overactive spleen) is a recognised cause. Bone marrow problems causing pancytopenia include myelofibrosis
Myelofibrosis

Myelofibrosis, also known as myeloid metaplasia, chronic idiopathic myelofibrosis, and primary myelofibrosis, is a disorder of the bone marrow, in which the marrow undergoes fibrosis - replacement by fibrous tissue ....
, leukemia
Leukemia

Leukemia is a cancer of the blood or bone marrow and is characterized by an abnormal proliferation of blood Cell , usually white blood cells ....
, aplastic anemia
Aplastic anemia

Aplastic anemia is a condition where bone marrow does not produce sufficient new cell s to replenish blood cells.The term 'aplastic' means the marrow suffers from an aplasia that renders it unable to function properly....
, and the malignant form of osteoporosis
Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is a disease of bone that leads to an increased risk of bone fracture. In osteoporosis the bone mineral density is reduced, bone microarchitecture is disrupted, and the amount and variety of collagen proteins in bone is altered....
.

Pancytopenia can also be caused by familial hemophagocytic syndrome, which is a type of immunodeficiency syndrome.






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Pancytopenia is a medical
Medicine

Medicine is the art and science of healing. It encompasses a range of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
 condition in which there is a reduction in the number of red
Red blood cell

Red blood cells are the most common type of blood cell and the vertebrate body's principal means of delivering oxygen to the body tissues via the blood....
 and white blood cell
White blood cell

White blood cells , or leukocytes , are cell of the immune system defending the body against both infectious disease and foreign materials....
s, as well as platelet
Platelet

Platelets, or Thrombocyte, are small, irregularly shaped anuclear cells, 2-4?m in diameter, which are derived from fragmentation of precursor megakaryocytes....
s.

Causes

Pancytopenia is generally due to diseases affecting the bone marrow
Bone marrow

Bone marrow is the flexible biological tissue found in the hollow interior of bones. In adults, marrow in large bones produces new blood cells....
, although peripheral destruction of all lines of blood cells in hypersplenism (overactive spleen) is a recognised cause. Bone marrow problems causing pancytopenia include myelofibrosis
Myelofibrosis

Myelofibrosis, also known as myeloid metaplasia, chronic idiopathic myelofibrosis, and primary myelofibrosis, is a disorder of the bone marrow, in which the marrow undergoes fibrosis - replacement by fibrous tissue ....
, leukemia
Leukemia

Leukemia is a cancer of the blood or bone marrow and is characterized by an abnormal proliferation of blood Cell , usually white blood cells ....
, aplastic anemia
Aplastic anemia

Aplastic anemia is a condition where bone marrow does not produce sufficient new cell s to replenish blood cells.The term 'aplastic' means the marrow suffers from an aplasia that renders it unable to function properly....
, and the malignant form of osteoporosis
Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is a disease of bone that leads to an increased risk of bone fracture. In osteoporosis the bone mineral density is reduced, bone microarchitecture is disrupted, and the amount and variety of collagen proteins in bone is altered....
.

Pancytopenia can also be caused by familial hemophagocytic syndrome, which is a type of immunodeficiency syndrome. The disease is marked by an inappropriate and ineffective T cell activation that leads to an increased hemophagocytic activity. The T cell activated macrophages engulf erythrocytes, leukocytes, platelets, as well as their progenitor cells. Such finding is common in the syndrome, which is also referred to as hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH). Along with pancytopenia, HLH is a syndrome characterized by fever, splenomegaly, and hemophagocytosis in bone marrow, liver, or lymph nodes.

Iatrogenic causes of pancytopenia include chemotherapy for malignancies if the drug or drugs used cause bone marrow suppression. Rarely, drugs (antibiotics, blood pressure medication, heart medication) can cause pancytopenia. The antibiotic Linezolid can cause pancytopenia in some individuals.

Increasingly, HIV
HIV

Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that can lead to AIDS , a condition in humans in which the immune system begins to fail, leading to life-threatening opportunistic infections....
 is itself a cause for pancytopenia.

Diagnosis

Pancytopenia usually requires a bone marrow biopsy in order to distinguish among different causes.

Causes of pancytopenia


  1. Familial Hemophagocytic Syndrome
  2. Aplastic anemia
    Aplastic anemia

    Aplastic anemia is a condition where bone marrow does not produce sufficient new cell s to replenish blood cells.The term 'aplastic' means the marrow suffers from an aplasia that renders it unable to function properly....
  3. Dyskeratosis congenita
  4. Myelodysplastic syndrome
    Myelodysplastic syndrome

    The myelodysplastic syndromes are a diverse collection of hematology conditions united by ineffective production of myeloid blood cells and risk of transformation to acute myelogenous leukemia ....
  5. Leukemia
    Leukemia

    Leukemia is a cancer of the blood or bone marrow and is characterized by an abnormal proliferation of blood Cell , usually white blood cells ....
  6. Leishmaniasis
    Leishmaniasis

    Leishmaniasis is a disease caused by protozoan parasites that belong to the genus Leishmania and is transmitted by the bite of certain species of sand fly ....
  7. Severe Folate or Vitamin B12 deficiency
    Vitamin B12 deficiency

    B12 deficiency is a reduction in vitamin B12 from inadequate dietary intake or impaired absorption. The condition is commonly asymptomatic, but can also present as anemia characterized by enlarged blood corpuscles, so-called megaloblastic anemia....
  8. Systemic Lupus Erythematosus
    Systemic lupus erythematosus

    Systemic lupus erythematosus is a chronic Autoimmunity connective tissue disease that can affect any part of the body. As occurs in other autoimmune diseases, the immune system attacks the body?s cells and tissue, resulting in inflammation and tissue damage....
  9. Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria
    Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria

    Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria , sometimes referred to as Marchiafava-Micheli syndrome, is a rare, acquired, potentially life-threatening disease of the blood characterised by complement-induced hemolytic anemia , red urine and thrombosis....
     (Urine test)
  10. Finally overwhelming viral infections (HIV most common).
  11. Alimentary Toxic Aleukia (ATA)


See also

  • Leukopenia
    Leukopenia

    Leukopenia is a decrease in the number of circulating white blood cells in the blood. As the principal function of white cells is to combat infection, a decrease in the number of these cells can place patients at increased risk for infection....
    , a reduction in white blood cells
  • Neutropenia
    Neutropenia

    Neutropenia , from Latin language prefix neutro- and Greek language suffix -pe??a is a Hematology disorder characterized by an abnormally low number of a type of white blood cell called a neutrophil....
    , a reduction in neutrophil granulocyte
    Neutrophil granulocyte

    Neutrophil granulocytes, generally referred to as neutrophils, are the most abundant type of white blood cells in humans and form an essential part of the immune system....
    s