[Vitamin deficiency-induced pancytopenia mimicking leukemia. Three cases]

Folate and vitamin B12 are indispensable to normal cell division. High turnover tissues, therefore, are the first to be affected when these vitamins are deficient. Such deficiencies, which are known to result in megaloblastic anaemia at a late stage, may also influence the granulocyte and platelet lines, but pancytopenia rarely occurs. We report 3 cases of pancytopenia associated with folate and/or vitamin B12 deficiency in elderly patients. In two of these patients bone marrow examination showed a misleading "pseudo-leukaemia" due to a significant proportion of strongly dystrophic young cells. Cure was obtained within 30 to 45 days of vitamin therapy, with complete normalization of the haemogram.