Arsenic intoxication as a cause of megaloblastic anemia
DD Westhoff, RJ Samaha and A Barnes
We have described a case of chronic arsenic intoxication associated with
pancytopenia and megaloblastic erythropoiesis. The patient had the typical
laboratory manifestations of effective erythorpoiesis due to a
megaloblastic process, including macroovalocytes, mild pancytopenia, low
reticulocyte index, increased marrow cellularity with erythroid
hyperplasia, and morphologic evidence of megaloblastic maturation in the
marrow. The patient's serum folate and vitamin B12 were normal, and the
anemia regressed without therapy. Our case suggests that the combination of
megaloblastosis with normoblastic or megaloblastic karyorrhexis,should
raise the suspicion of arsenic intoxication in the mind of the observer. In
addition, arsenic should be added to the list of agents causing a
reversible megaloblastic anemia.
Volume 45,
Issue 2,
pp. 241-246,
02/01/1975
Copyright © 1975 by The American Society of Hematology
