title: Hematological malignancies diagnosed by bone marrow examination in a tertiary hospital at Uttarakhand, India.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Hematological malignancies are quite common and affect all ages and genders. The diagnosis involves a multiparameter approach. The geographical distribution of various types of hematological malignancies has been provided by various authors but no such data have been published regarding the State of Uttarakhand in India.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To study the hematological malignancies at Uttarakhand in India based on age, sex and the type of malignancy with further sub typing wherever possible.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 220 cases of hematological malignancies were worked up from the Reference Laboratory of Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences over an eight year period (1998-2005).
  
  
  METHODS
  Diagnosis was mainly based on morphological examination of peripheral blood and bone marrow smears stained by Leishman's stain and MPO, Sudan Black and PAS stain as and where required. Distribution of cases was studied based on age, sex and the type of malignancy with further sub typing wherever possible.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The most common hematological malignancy was found to be Leukemia 129/220 (58%) followed b Lymphoma 33/220 (14.8%), Multiple Myeloma 55/220 (24.7%) and Metastatic Lesions 3/220 (1.3%). These malignancies were seen to be distributed throughout all ages with a peak at 11-20 years age group 39/220 (17.5%) and another peak at 51-60 years age group 41/220 (18.4%). We found an overall male preponderance with a M:F ratio of 2.3:1.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The commonest haematological malignancy in our series was Leukemia. Other diagnoses were Multiple Myeloma, Lymphoma and Secondaries. Multiple Myeloma which turned out to be the second most common diagnosis was an unusual finding.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Pathology & Medicine, Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences, Jolly Grant, Dehradun, 248 140 Uttarakhand India.
authors.forename: Anuradha
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kusum
authors.forename: Gita
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Negi
authors.forename: Dushyant Singh
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Gaur
authors.forename: Sanjeev
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kishore
authors.forename: Harsh
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Meena
authors.forename: Anita
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.forename: S K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Verma
keywords: Bone Marrow; Distribution; Hematologic malignancies