bone marrow hypoplasia/failure (myelosuppression)

Introduction

Suppression of hematopoiesis within the bone marrow. Any & all hematopoietic cell lines may be affected, resulting in:

• aplastic anemia
• leukopenia*
• thrombocytopenia

* lymphocytes are generally spared

Etiology

• inherited
  • Fanconi anemia
  • dyskeratosis congenita
  • Diamond-Blackfan syndrome
  • Shwachman-Diamond syndrome
• acquired
  • aplastic anemia

Pathology

• hypoplasia of one or more cell lines in the bone marrow
• lymphocytes are generally spared

Laboratory

• complete blood count (CBC)
• bone marrow biopsy
• sucrose hemolysis test (Ham test)

Radiology

• magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
• positron emission tomography (PET)

Differential diagnosis

• acquired form
  • myelodysplastic syndrome
  • paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria
  • large granular lymphocyte leukemia
  • acute myelogenous leukemia
  • aplastic anemia
  • hairy cell leukemia

Management

• transfusion as needed
• febrile neutropenia is a medical emergency
• bone marrow transplantation
• specifc therapies for specific disorders

More general terms

• hypoplasia
• bone marrow disease

More specific terms

• hypoplastic anemia
• leukopenia
• pancytopenia