Phagocytized Neutrophil Fragments in the Bone Marrow: A Phenomenon Most Commonly Associated with Hodgkin Lymphoma

Bone marrow macrophages containing other cells, or large pieces of other cells, represent a distinctive feature of diseases such as Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) and Rosai-Dorfman disease. We describe a distinct variation of phagocytic histiocyte morphology, featuring histiocytes containing predominantly fragments of neutrophil nuclei. We retrospectively reviewed initial bone marrow samples for Hodgkin lymphoma, Burkitt lymphoma, Ewing sarcoma, or evaluation for nonneoplastic conditions, scoring the presence or absence of the above-described histiocytes. We find that these histiocytes, which we term "fragmentophages," are associated with staging marrow sampling for malignancy, especially Hodgkin lymphoma (Hodgkin lymphoma: 28/34 or 82.4%, Ewing sarcoma: 11/26 or 42.3%, Burkitt lymphoma: 4/13 or 30.8%). These cells are significantly less common in marrow samples for nonneoplastic conditions (4/21 or 19.0%). Fragmentophages are significantly associated with malignancy, especially Hodgkin lymphoma, and their recognition has the potential to provide a clue to an underlying malignancy.