Medicine:Leucoerythroblastic

A leukoerythroblastic (or leucoerythroblastic) anemia is any anemic condition resulting from space-occupying lesions in the bone marrow; the circulating blood contains immature cells of the granulocytic series and nucleated red blood cells, frequently in numbers that are disproportionately large in relation to the degree of anemia. Blood smear will show the typical bone marrow response to any irritation including marrow infiltration (causing immature red cells). Marrow infiltrative disorders include myelomas, malignancy, myelofibrosis, Gaucher’s disease etc. It can also occur as a response to severe critical illness, such as trauma, septicemia, massive hemolysis, or severe megaloblastic anemia. Leukoerthyroblastic change refers to the presence of nucleated red blood cells and primitive white blood cells.

Seen in bone marrow failure, myelofibrosis and extramedullary hematopoiesis.

Features of leucoerythroblastic anemia include:

• normocytic normochromic anemia with numerous poikilocytes
• normoblasts (nucleated red cells)
• low-grade reticulocytosis (2-5%)
• circulating immature white cells, generally myelocytes and promyelocytes
• thrombocytopenia is more common than thrombocythemia