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Aplastic Anemia

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Encyclopedia of Pathology

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Pathology ((EP))

Synonyms

Bone marrow failure

Definition and Etiology

Aplastic anemia (AA) is defined as at least bicytopenia (two of the following: granulocytes <0.5 × 109/l; platelets <20 × 109/l; corrected reticulocyte count <20 × 109/l) in the background of either markedly (<25% of age-adjusted cellularity) or moderately hypoplastic (25–50% of age-adjusted cellularity with <30% of cells being hematopoietic cells) bone marrow as assessed on a biopsy (Fig. 1a–c). Thus, for the diagnosis of AA, both features of bi-/pan-cytopenia in the peripheral blood and hypoplasia of the bone marrow have to be fulfilled. Major dysplasia of the hematopoietic cells, tumor infiltrates, or increased fibrosis must be absent. AA can be graded according to the criteria established by Camitta et al., and very severe AA is defined by a neutrophil count <0.2 × 109/L.

Fig. 1
figure 1

(a) Bone marrow biopsy findings in aplastic anemia; Giemsa stain, 200x. (b) Isolated plasma cells, mast cells, and hemosiderophages in a follow-up bone...

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References and Further Reading

  • Ogawa, S. (2016). Clonal hematopoiesis in acquired aplastic anemia. Blood, 128, 337–347.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Scheinberg, P., & Young, N. S. (2012). How I treat acquired aplastic anemia. Blood, 120, 1185–1196.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Stern, M., Buser, A. S., Lohri, A., Tichelli, A., & Nissen-Druey, C. (2007). Autoimmunity and malignancy in hematology – More than an association. Critical Reviews in Oncology/Hematology, 63, 100–110.

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  • Tzankov, A., & Medinger, M. (2014). Aplastic anemia: Possible associations with lymphoproliferative neoplasms. International Journal of Laboratory Hematology, 36, 382–387.

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  • Yoshizato, T., Dumitriu, B., Hosokawa, K., Makishima, H., Yoshida, K., Townsley, D., Sato-Otsubo, A., Sato, Y., Liu, D., Suzuki, H., Wu, C. O., Shiraishi, Y., Clemente, M. J., Kataoka, K., Shiozawa, Y., Okuno, Y., Chiba, K., Tanaka, H., Nagata, Y., Katagiri, T., Kon, A., Sanada, M., Scheinberg, P., Miyano, S., Maciejewski, J. P., Nakao, S., Young, N. S., & Ogawa, S. (2015). Somatic mutations and clonal hematopoiesis in aplastic anemia. The New England Journal of Medicine, 373, 35–47.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Medical Genetics and Pathology, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland

    Thomas Menter & Alexandar Tzankov

Authors
  1. Thomas Menter
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  2. Alexandar Tzankov
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alexandar Tzankov .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. NIJMEGEN, The Netherlands

    J.H.J.M. van Krieken

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Menter, T., Tzankov, A. (2018). Aplastic Anemia. In: van Krieken, J. (eds) Encyclopedia of Pathology. Encyclopedia of Pathology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28845-1_3878-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28845-1_3878-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-28845-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-28845-1

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