[Hematological disorders in malignancy]

We examined hematopoietic disorders in 74 patients with various malignancies. The proportions of patients with anemia in the case of esophageal carcinoma, gastric carcinoma, colorectal carcinoma, hepatoma, and pancreatic carcinoma were 75%, 87.5%, 77%, 64% and 87.5%, respectively. Hypochromic microcytic anemia was mainly observed in showed patients with carcinoma of the gastro-intestinal tract which showed severe bleeding. The major proportion of patients with hepatoma and pancreatic carcinoma showed normochromic normocytic anemia. The WBC count was usually within the normal range except for patients with liver cirrhosis or generalized metastasis who showed decreased WBC counts. The mean lymphocyte count in the peripheral blood, which is thought to be correlated with the prognosis of cancer patients, was less than 1,500/microliter except for patients with gastric carcinoma, whose five-year survival rate was 28.6%. Monocytosis was mainly observed in patients with colorectal carcinoma and pancreatic carcinoma, accounting for 24.5% of the total cases. This finding may suggest some relationship between cancer and monocytes. Thrombocytosis was seen in patients with severe bleeding, but thrombocytopenia was seen in patients with liver cirrhosis. Most cancer patients showed normo-cellular marrow and normal M/E. We also examined the ferrokinetics and ferritin levels in cancer patients.