Clinical profile of patients with pancytopenia in a tertiary care centre

Background: Pancytopenia is a condition in which all three cell lines i.e. erythroid, myeloid and megakaryocytic are affected resulting in anaemia, leukopenia and thrombocytopenia. It can be a manifestation of a wide variety of disorders which primarily or secondarily affect the bone marrow. Early diagnosis of these conditions will help in implementing the appropriate treatment. The objective of the study was to know the clinical presentation and etiology of patients presenting with pancytopenia.Methods: A one year study from April 2016 to March 2017 was conducted in the department of medicine at a tertiary care centre. Total 32 patients with pancytopenia were studied to determine their clinical features and etiology through relevant investigations.Results: Our study revealed megaloblastic anaemia (46.87%) as the most common cause of pancytopenia, followed by malaria (12.5%). Other causes included hypothyroidism (6.2%), hypersplenism (6.2%), drugs (12.5%) and miscellaneous (9.43%).Conclusions: Megaloblastic anaemia was found to be the major cause of pancytopenia in patients. Other causes of pancytopenia were malaria, drugs, hypersplenism and hypothyroidism. These should be kept in mind while evaluating patients with pancytopenia.