Morphology in patients with severe aplastic anemia treated with antilymphocyte globulin

One hundred and seventeen patients with severe aplastic anemia (SAA) were treated at our institution between 1976 and 1990 with antilymphocyte globulin (ALG) therapy. Seventy-nine (68%) are alive and probability of survival at 14 years, according to Kaplan and Meier, is 62% +/- 12%. Twenty-six patients developed a late clonal complication: 11 had a myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and 17 had paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH); two patients had both. The cumulative risk at 10 years is 42%. The development of MDS/PNH after SAA directly affects survival. The probability of being alive at 14 years is 81% +/- 10% for patients with stable disease and 36% +/- 13% for those with clonal evolution (P = .001). To look for predictive signs, we reevaluated peripheral blood and bone marrow cytomorphology at presentation, during regeneration, and in remission. We examined the peripheral blood values for hemoglobin, reticulocytes, granulocytes, thrombocytes, mean corpuscular volume (MCV), and fetal hemoglobin, as well as bone marrow for cellularity, erythropoiesis, myelopoiesis, and megakaryopoiesis. ALG therapy induces slow and incomplete recovery. Although in "remission," ALG patients have lower hemoglobin values, higher reticulocyte counts, lower granulocyte and platelet values, and a higher MCV and fetal hemoglobin than normal controls. They retain a reduced number of megakaryocytes and a persistence of atypical monocytes in bone marrow morphology as stigmata of their disease. Patients with late clonal complications show distinct morphologic abnormalities: patients with PNH have higher MCVs, higher granulocyte and reticulocyte counts, and more dyserythropoiesis at diagnosis and a lower hemoglobin with an increased proportion of erythroblasts in the bone marrow in "remission." Patients who later developed MDS are not different from the total patient population at diagnosis. After therapy, these patients are characterized by the presence of ring sideroblasts and atypical monocytes during regeneration and by a persistent increase in MCV, a higher fetal hemoglobin, lower granulocyte values, and megakaryocytic dysplasia during "remission." Thus, routine morphologic follow-up examination of blood and bone marrow can discover patients at risk for late hematologic complications after ALG therapy.