Abstract :
Background: Pancytopenia is the decrease in all three cell lines of blood and bicytopenia is decrease
in any two out of the three lineages. This study aims to describe the clinical and hematology profiles of
bicytopenia and pancytopenia in children less than 12 years and to determine the underlying aetiologies.
Objectives: To describe the different aetiologies of bicytopenia and pancytopenia in paediatric patients
based on clinical and haematological profiles including peripheral blood and bone marrow examination.
Materials and Methods: It was a descriptive study and 117 patients with pancytopenia/bicytopenia
admitted in a tertiary care center in central Kerala during the study period (January 2015 – December
2016) were evaluated clinically, along with hematological parameters.
Results: Bi/pancytopenia mostly affected children older than 9 years of age. Most common clinical
symptoms were fever followed by pallor and bleeding; and sign was hepatomegaly . Anemia with
thrombocytopenia was the most common bicytopenia seen. The most common underlying cause was
infection followed by acute leukemia and aplastic anemia.
Conclusion: Cytopenia presenting with fever, pallor and bleeding with organomegaly after exclusion of
infections and combined disease processes signify underlying bone marrow disorders /malignancies which
warrants thorough work up.
Keyword :
Bicytopenia, Infections, Leukemia, Pancytopenia.