Eh. Lombard et Epg. Mansvelt, HEMATOLOGICAL-CHANGES ASSOCIATED WITH MILIARY TUBERCULOSIS OF THE BONE-MARROW, Tubercle and lung disease, 74(2), 1993, pp. 131-135
The peripheral blood and bone marrow findings in 25 patients found to
have tuberculous granulomata on bone marrow examination were examined
to determine whether specific haematological findings are associated w
ith tuberculous infiltration of the bone marrow. All the patients had
one abnormality or more on their full blood count. The presence of a p
eripheral lymphopaenia was the single factor common to all 25 patients
studied. The peripheral lymphopaenia was only associated with bone ma
rrow lymphopaenia in 14% of patients. Other findings of note were an a
ssociation of peripheral monocytopaenia and absence of giant cells in
the granulomata, and decreased iron stores in almost a third of the to
tal number of patients. The relevance of the lymphopaenia, monocytopae
nia and decreased iron stores are discussed and we propose that the ab
sence of a peripheral lymphopaenia makes it very unlikely that there w
ill be tuberculous localization in the bone marrow.