Macrocytic anemia: Myelogram results in military hospital Avicenna in Marrakech

Anemia is one of the most common health problems in the primary care setting. Macrocytosis in adults is defined as a red blood cell mean corpuscular volum >95 fL. Macrocytic anemias are generally classified into megaloblastic or non-megaloblastic anemia.

Retrospective descriptive study included 340 samples of myelogram received in the Hematology Labortory belonging to patients admitted to the Military hospital of Avicenna in Marrakech, over a period of 48 months (from January 2016 to January 2020), aimed to assess the etiological profile of macrocytic anemia in patients whose bone marrow smears were received in our laboratory. 

Out of 340 myelogram samples, 120 cases of macrocytic anemia were received. The male gender was predominant with a sex-ratio (M/F) at 3. The average age was 55 years old with extremes ranging from 29 to 91 years? The discovery of macrocytic anemia was fortuitous in 30% of cases. 47% of our population presented anemic syndrom, 14% hemorrhagic syndrome, 9% infectious syndrome. The hemoglobin varyied between 4,7 g/dL and 11,9 g/dL with an average of 7.2 g/dL. The mean corpuscular volume was 107 fL. The bone marrow smear confirmed megaloblastic anemia in 54,3% of cases of macrocytic anemia.

The diversity and complexity of factors leading to macrocytic anemia preclude a single or uniform method of investigation. The investigative pattern must be tailored to the individual patient, giving importance to the clinical presentation.