Acute arrest of hemopoiesis presenting as severe aplastic anemia: a retrospective analysis

The clinical manifestations of acute arrest of hemopoiesis (AAH) are very similar with severe aplastic anemia (SAA). Currently there are no clear diagnostic criteria to distinguish AAH from SAA. Differentiation of AAH from SAA is challenging in the routine clinical practice. This study aimed to analyze the clinical and laboratory features between AAH and SAA patients.

We performed a retrospective study with cohort of 425 suspected patients who were hospitalized to the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2020. We identified 11 AAH patients and 49 SAA patients to investigate the differentiation diagnostic features.

Clinical and laboratory examinations of 11 patients with AAH met the diagnostic criteria of SAA, and hematopoietic recovery occurred within a median time of 12 (4-21) days. The median time for neutrophils to recover above 1 × 10⁹/L and platelet to recover above 50 × 10⁹/L in all patients with AAH was 5 (3-8) days and 8 (1-13) days, respectively. Compared with the control group SAA, the 11 AAH patients were older, with a median age of 53 (21-69) years old, and their first symptom is usually fever.

The spontaneous remission of AAH was rapid in most patients, and relapses were rarely observed. With supportive treatment, the AAH patients would show significant improvement on blood routine about a week, otherwise the patients should be treated as early as possible with the SAA regimen.