Aplastic anaemia of childhood: Marked cytopenias

Objective: aplastic anemia of childhood: marked cytopenias design: cross-sectional comparative study. place and duration of study: haematology department of children?s hospital and institute of child health lahore during the period from april 2003 to december 2008. patients and methods: two hundred and thirteen children fulfilling the criteria were included in the study and the results of patients were compared with the age matched controls. studentt? test was applied. the level of significance was significant,if the p-value was less than 0.05. results: aplastic anaemia was present at a frequency of 85.5%,demographic characteristics showed that pallor is the most common symptom followed by fever and bruises. epistaxis is also observed. hematological abnormalities showed that the prominent hematological finding was anemia,leucopenia and thrombocytopenia. levels of hemoglobin and values of leukocyte count,erythrocyte counts,reticulocyte count and platelet counts were decreased significantly when compared with controls. conclusion: the key issue in searching for the cause of cytopenia is to determine whether it is a self-limiting or a serious chronic disorder,such as a bone marrow failure syndrome that may progress to cancer. an accurate diagnosis of the type of bone marrow failure syndrome is important in order to counsel families on the natural history of the disease and provide effective treatment.