[Chronic benign neutropenia of childhood]. / Neutropénia crónica benigna da infância.

The term neutropenia concerns the reduction of the amount of circulating neutrophils in peripheric blood. The Chronic Benign Neutropenia of Childhood (CBNC) is characterized by the presence of a circulating neutrophils total number (absolute count) below 1,5 x 10(9)L, for over a six-month period. The diagnosis is established when the laboratorial changes occur during the first two years of life, without previous history of serious infections, nor neutrophils morphological changes, nor hypocellular bone marrow examination. The cellularity is normal or increased and a neutrophil maturation arrest at some phase can be observed. Generally, the whole process is solved by the age of four. Because this is a very rare clinical situation, it justifies a bibliographic revision about the theme. We present the clinical case of a 15 month-old-child, admitted with fever and diarrhea associated with neutropenia. Bone marrow aspiration, other laboratorial exams carried out during hospital internment and presented clinical evolution were consistent with CBNC diagnosis.

[Hemogram reference values for Lisbon metropolitan area population]. / Valores de referência para hemograma na população da zona metropolitana de Lisboa.

The haemogram is, probably, one of the most requested analysis for laboratorial evaluation not only for ill patients but also in periodic evaluation of healthy subjects, allowing us to foil the presence of eventual illness, since there is an enormous variety of pathologies that can induce haemogram changes. The haematological parameters of healthy subjects are influenced by numerous factors. The ideal would be each laboratory should determine and establish his own reference values for each parameter, having in account all the variables. Since the available data for haematological parameters in the Portuguese population is very insufficient, it becomes necessary to report to exterior data based in populations with different characteristics from ours, which makes reference values' reliability questionable. To overcome this problem, we felt the necessity to evaluate our own population (healthy adults from metropolitan Lisbon area) concerning haemogram reference values, comparing the obtained results with those from the bibliography. We analyzed 363 blood samples from blood-donors that fulfilled the previously established protocol. The samples were collected before blood donation and the haemograms were done on the same day. We proceeded to the informatic registration of haemogram results, to the gathering of important data, to the characterization of the target population and to the statistical analysis of the obtained results. The sample population was globally analyzed and several groups were compared, according to sex, age group and possible history of smoking habits. Although we did not find in the bibliography data concerning the quantitative analysis of similar groups compared to ours, globally we concluded that the obtained results are similar to those described by other authors, both in qualitative and quantitative terms. The obtained results can only be of reference for this population and created subgroups. The definition of reference values for the Portuguese population requires the study of a much larger sample, due to the populational diversity that characterizes our country.