White Blood Cell Aplasia Associated with Thymoma

Open Access
Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
A limited number of cases of acquired hypoplastic neutropenia or pure white blood cell aplasia (PWCA) associated with thymoma have been reported, in contrast to the well-documented association of pure red blood cell aplasia and thymoma. The mechanism of the aplasia in these disorders is unclear. The authors report a case of PWCA (with total absence of all granulopoietic elements in the bone marrow) in a patient with meta-static spindle cell thymoma, in which suppression of autologous granulocyte-macrophage colony-forming units by the patient’s serum could be demonstrated. This finding suggests a humoral autoimmune mechanism for the pathogenesis of PWCA in this patient and lends support to the possibility that all hematologic phenomena associated with thymoma may have an autoimmune basis.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: