[Necrosis of the bone marrow]

The authors analyzed the incidence of necrosis of the bone marrow in nonselected autopsy material. The studies included 419 cases of various disease types. Necrosis of the bone marrow was found in 83 cases (19.8%). It was most frequently observed in patients with neoplastic disease of the hematopoietic and lymphatic systems (26.3%) and malignant neoplasms of different origin (21.9%). In 40% cases necrosis of the bone marrow were accompanied by neoplastic metastases into the hematopoietic tissue, and thrombotic changes in the blood vessels occurred in 22.9% of these cases. Our results point to a fairly frequent occurrence of necrosis of the bone marrow, especially in the course of neoplastic disease.