Myelopoietic abnormalities in patients with metastatic carcinoma

Myelopoiesis was assessed in 41 untreated patients with widespread cancer without evidence of infection. None of these patients had neutropenia, although leukopenia due to decreased concentrations of blood lymphocytes was observed in two. Sixteen patients (39%) had neutrophilia and 12 patients (29%), 5 of them with neutrophilia, had decreased marrow granulocyte reserve. Neither the blood neutrophil counts nor the marrow granulocyte reserve correlated significantly with the marrow myeloid mitotic indices, myeloid to erythroid ratio or the number of marrow colony-forming cells. There was no difference in the duration of the disease, the extent of systemic metastasis and the degree of malnutrition between patients with or without myelopoietic abnormalities. Our findings suggest that decreased marrow granulocyte reserve and neutrophilia are common in untreated patients with disseminated carcinoma.