The Usefulness of the Bone Marrow Examination in the Investigation of the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome: The Harris County Hospital District Experience

Authors

  • M Qasim Ansari Department of Pathology Baylor College of Medicine and Ben Taub General Hospital Houston, Texas USA
  • Eugenio I Banez Department of Pathology Baylor College of Medicine and Ben Taub General Hospital Houston, Texas USA

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5915/23-1-15222

Keywords:

Bone marrow biopsy, AIDS, Retrospective review, Morphology

Abstract

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5915/23-1-15222

A retrospective examination of bone marrow biopsies of sixty one consecutive patients with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) was performed in order to delineate the morphology of the disease and to determine the usefulness of bone marrow examination in AIDS. The morphologic features were compared with those reported in the literature. Common findings included hypercellularity (76%), increased M:E ratio (35%), increased megakaryocytes (50%), plasmacytosis (36%), fibrosis (90%), increased iron stores (77%), benign lymphohistiocytic proliferations (38%) and granulomas (30%). Acid fast bacilli were demonstrated in 11% and fungi in 10%. The authors conclude that there are changes in the bone marrow in most cases of AIDS and the findings though nonspecific are fairly characteristic. The bone marrow biopsy was found to be a very useful tool in the diagnosis of opportunistic diseases and in the proper classification of AIDS.

Author Biographies

M Qasim Ansari, Department of Pathology Baylor College of Medicine and Ben Taub General Hospital Houston, Texas USA

M.D.

Department of Pathology
Baylor College of Medicine and Ben Taub General Hospital
Houston, Texas
USA 

Eugenio I Banez, Department of Pathology Baylor College of Medicine and Ben Taub General Hospital Houston, Texas USA

M.D.

Department of Pathology
Baylor College of Medicine and Ben Taub General Hospital
Houston, Texas
USA 

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Published

1991-01-01

Issue

Vol. 23 No. 1 (1991)

Section

Original Articles

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