RESUMO
The aim of the present work was to perform a prospective analysis of the significance of macrocytic red cells through the study of all patients with MCV higher than 105 fl (those treated with cytotoxic or immunosuppressing drugs were excluded). Conventional clinical, haematologic and biochemical studies were carried out on every patient, along with B12 and folate levels, bone marrow examination and bone marrow karyotype and, whenever B12 deficiency was present, complete Schilling's test. Special attention was paid to the aetiological inquiry and post-therapeutical course. A series of 109 patients was collected. Decreased serum B12 rates with abnormal Schilling's test and response to parenteral therapy were present in 26 cases (24%). Of them, 22 fulfilled the diagnostic criteria for Biermer's anaemia, while in the remaining 4 there was impaired intestinal absorption. Serum or red-cell folate deficiency was found in 34 other cases (31%). Alcoholism was present in 20 of them, abnormal diet in 10, malabsorption syndrome in 2, and excessive demands in 2 others. Hence, vitamin deficiency underlay macrocytosis in 60/109 cases (55%). In the remaining 49 cases (45%) macrocytosis was not accompanying folate or B12 deficiency. Of these, severe liver disease was found in 16 patients (alcoholic in 15 and post-hepatitis in 1 case), with increased serum B12 in 10 cases and increased serum or erythrocytic folate in 3 others. Nineteen patients within this group had primary myelodysplastic syndromes (RA, 8; SRA, 4; RAEB, 7), and the remaining 14 cases had several haematological (AIHA, 4; CLL, 1, T-cell lymphoma 1, M-6, 1, and myelofibrosis with myeloid metaplasia, 2) or non-haematological diseases (heart insufficiency, 2; COPD,3).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
