Reversible adult-onset cyclic haematopoiesis with a cycle length of 100 days.
Cyclic neutropenia is the most frequent of the cyclic haematopoietic disorders characterized by its regular 21 d cyclic fluctuations in the number of blood neutrophils, and in many cases simultaneous fluctuations in the other blood cell lines. In this paper we describe a 77-year-old woman with a cyclic pancytopenia including all the myeloid cell lines and to some extent the lymphocytes with a constant and predictable oscillation period of about 100 d. Serial bone marrow biopsies and plasma lactoferrin measurements indicated a similar fluctuating pattern in the bone marrow production of neutrophils. Serial measurements of plasma GM-CSF concentration pointed at a simple feed-back inhibitory system. The condition was present for at least 4 years, after which it gradually improved, although the thrombocyte count still showed a fluctuating tendency after a further 4 years of observation. The clinical consequences were mild symptoms of anaemia and a few episodes of respiratory infections occurring during pancytopenic periods. We think this is the first case described in the literature with this variant of a cyclic haematopoietic disorder. The precise pathophysiological mechanism behind this condition is obscure, but probably it is due to a regulatory disturbance at a very early step in the haematopoietic stem cell hierarchy.
Birgens
H S
HS
Department of Haematology, Hvidovre Hospital, Denmark.
Karle
H
H
D000368:Aged; D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000473:pathology; D004906:Erythrocyte Count; D005260:Female; D016178:Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D007377:Interleukin-3 / Q000097:blood; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D010198:Pancytopenia / Q000097:blood / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D010507:Periodicity
D007377:Interleukin-3; D016178:Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor