Epidemiological and Cytological Profile of Pancytopenia in Hematology Laboratory of JRA University Hospital Antananarivo

Introduction: Pancytopenia is defined as simultaneous decrease of three myeloid lineages below normal values for age and sex. In Madagascar, few studies have analyzed profiles of patients with pancytopenia. Ours aims were to determine epidemiological, clinical, cytological and etiological profile of pancytopenia. Methods: We collected all data from patients with pancytopenia over a period of 12 months (March 2013-March 2014) at hematology laboratory of CHU-JRA Antananarivo. Results: 11843 hemograms were performed, pancytopenia accounted for 0.91% (108/11843). Eighty-three patients met the inclusion criteria of our study. The average age was 29.48 years old with extremes of 29 days and 83 years. There was a male predominance with a ratio of 1.18. Anemic syndrome is the most common clinical sign (Table 1). Hemogram study showed anemia to varying degrees. Twenty-six patients (31.32%) had a platelet count below 20G /L. Blood smear study revealed presence of blasts in 19.27% (16/83). Conclusion: Pancytopenia is fairly common circumstance in practice. Abnormalities in hemogram must involve further investigations.