Etiological evaluation in 766 patients with pancytopenia; a single center experience

Aim: Pancytopenia is a clinical problem which has a wide differential diagnostic spectrum and may occur with various mechanisms. In this study we aimed to determine the most common etiologic causes in patients with pancytopenia. Materials and Methods: The records of patients aged 18 years and older, who applied to the Health Sciences University Bakirkoy Dr. Sadi Konuk Training and Research Hospital between 2012 and 2017 and who were diagnosed with pancytopenia according to World Health Organization (WHO) criteria were retrospectively reviewed. Statistical Method: Mann-Whitney-U test was used for 2 groups and Kruskal-Wallis test was applied for 3 and more groups. Since no normal distribution was provided as a descriptive statistic, median and change interval values were given for continuous data. Results: A total of 766 patients, 475 (62%) women and 291(38%) men, were included in the study. In these patients, non-hematologic causes were found in 77.7% and hematologic causes in 22.3% of patients with pancytopenia. Hematological etiologies were 72.2% benign and 27.8% malignant. Non-hematological causes were divided into groups as renal diseases (6.05%), rheumatological diseases (2.3%), infective diseases (10.7%), endocrinological diseases (3.8%), hypersplenism (14.4%), immunosuppressive drug use (17.4%), solid organ cancers (10.7%) and unidentified reasons (34.2%). Conclusion: Pancytopenia should be evaluated carefully and the etiology should be detected quickly and corrected by appropriate treatment. It is an appropriate approach to exclude, firs the non-hematological causes (especially immunosuppressive drug use, hypersplenism, infection and solid organ cancers) and the benign causes of hematological reasons.