RETICULOCYTE COUNT WITH MATURATION FRACTIONS IN PANCYTOPENIC EVALUATION BY A FULLY AUTOMATED COUNTER

Using a fully automated reticulocyte counter, the roles of the reticul ocyte count with maturation in pancytopenia were evaluated. Different groups of pancytopenia including aplastic anemia, infiltrative marrow disorder, hypersplenism, and megaloblastic anemia were recruited. All patients had bone marrow examinations for morphological diagnosis and reticulocyte evaluation using an automated counter The roles of these parameters were then analyzed statistically in the differential evalua tion among these conditions. The following subjects were studied: 292 normal subjects, 67 cases of aplastic anemia, 69 cases of marrow infil tration by different malignancies, 35 cases of hypersplenism, and 13 c ases of megaloblastic anemia. The results showed that the absolute ret iculocyte counts were lowest in the groups of aplastic anemia and mega loblastic anemia and highest in hypersplenism. Both showed significant differences from the infiltrative groups. The maturation fractions we re most immature in the group of marrow infiltration and are significa ntly different from the other groups. It was concluded that the highes t absolute reticulocyte count (>0.09 10(12) L) obtained in pancytopeni c patients suggests it to be a case of hypersplenism. The lowest count s (< 0.03 10(12) L) with lowest immature fractions (<10%) suggest the groups of aplastic or megaloblastic anemias. The highest immature frac tions (>30%) with a nearly normal reticulocyte count favor the group o f marrow infiltration. (C) 1993 Wiley-Liss Inc.