3. Introduction
• Aplastic anemia (AA) is a life-threatening form of bone marrow failure which, if
untreated, is associated with very high mortality.
• AA refers to life-threatening pancytopenia in association with bone marrow
hypoplasia/aplasia, most often due to immune injury to multipotent
hematopoietic stem cells.
• The term "aplastic anemia" is a misnomer ++++> because it is characterized by
pancytopenia rather than anemia alone.
• Bone marrow failure is a broader term, in which pancytopenia may be caused by
bone marrow replacement (eg, by tumor or fibrosis) or myelodysplastic
syndromes in addition to other various causes of AA.
5. Classification and Diagnostic criteria
• AA is classified according to the following criteria:
• Severe AA — Diagnosis requires both of the following criteria :
A. Bone marrow cellularity <25 percent
B. At least two of the following:
Peripheral blood absolute neutrophil count (ANC) <500/microL (<0.5 X 109/L)
Peripheral blood platelet count <20,000/microL
Peripheral blood reticulocyte count <50,000/microL
• Very severe AA — Diagnosis of very severe aplastic anemia (vSAA) include the
criteria for SAA (above) But ANC is <200/microL .
• Non-severe AA — Criteria are:
a) Hypocellular bone marrow (as described for SAA)
b) Peripheral blood cytopenias not fulfilling criteria for SAA or vSAA
6. Thank you
Any inquiries send to:
Maamoun Alsermani MD
MRCP,ABIM,SBIM,SFAH
Consultant in Adult Hematology & Stem Cell Transplantation
Section of Hematology, Internal Medicine Department
Prince Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Hospital
Asst. professor of Medicine and Hematology
Email: alsermanim@pmah.med.sa,
malsermani@hotmail.com
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