[Etiological profile of pancytopenia in adults in Marrakesh, Morocco]

This retrospective study evaluated the frequency of different causes of pancytopenia in all adult patients with pancytopenia presenting to the Department of Haematology of Mohamed VI Hospital, Marrakesh from 1 January 2008 to 31 December 2010. A total of 118 cases of pancytopenia were found (average of 39 cases per year). The mean age of patients was 52 years (range 18-82 years) and 52.5% were male. The main clinical signs were pallor (100%), asthenia (100%) and fever (30.5%). Mean haemoglobin was 6.5 g/dL (range 2.9-9.2 g/dL), mean white blood cell count was 2360/mm3 (range 840-3360/mm3) and platelet count 66 000/mm3 (range 3000-123 000/mm3). Bone marrow aspiration was performed in 112 patients; megaloblastosis was found in 32.2% and marrow blasts in 23.7%. Anaemia due to vitamin B12 deficiency (32.2%), acute leukaemia (23.7%) and aplastic anaemia (15.2%) were the main causes of pancytopenia. Given the incidence of acute leukemia among our cases, patients presenting with pancytopenia require urgent diagnosis and treatment.