Bone Marrow Failure Syndromes : An Overview

Bone marrow failure may be simply defined as pancytopenia (anemia, leukopenia, and thrombocytopenia, sometimes in various combinations) resulting from deficient hematopoiesis, (as against the cytopenias arising from peripheral destruction). This concept of bone marrow failure is imprecise but convenient.1,2 The classification shown in Table 1 is all-inclusive, and attempts to group the syndromes according to the mechanism of the bone marrow failure and to distinguish the inherited or congenital syndromes from the acquired. Occasionally, bone marrow failure syndromes manifest as single lineage disorders (Table 2). As will be apparent from the tables, the term bone marrow failure is rather vague and inclusive and awaits redefinition with more precise understanding of pathophysiologic processes.