Bone marrow findings in lupus patients with pancytopenia

The marrow findings of 23 lupus patients with pancytopenia were reported. The most common findings were dyserythropoiesis and hypoplasia, both occurring in 9/23 (39%) of the cases. Neither feature was definitely related to cytotoxic drug therapy since most cases were treated by steroids only. Three of the hypoplastic marrows also showed gelatinous transformation, a condition characterized by disruption of marrow architecture, fat atrophy, and deposition of hyaluronic acid. Another common finding was lymphocytosis which occurred in 5/23 (22%) of the cases, 2 of which also had associated plasmacytosis. Two cases were associated with hyperplastic marrow, indicating peripheral destruction of blood cells and compensatory marrow hyperplasia. Reports in the literature on bone marrows in systemic lupus erythematosus are conflicting, describing mainly hypoplasia, vasculitis, plasmacytosis, red cell aplasia, and myelofibrosis. In our series, we found hypoplasia and lymphocytosis/plasmacytosis; in addition we described findings previously unreported: gelatinous transformation, dyserythropoiesis, and marrow hyperplasia.