Myelodysplasia in the acquired immune deficiency syndrome

Certain new hematologic findings in eight homosexual or bisexual patients with the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) are presented. All eight patients manifested a normochromic, normocytic anemia, and six of eight had granulocytopenia during their hospitalization. The other two had low-normal granulocyte counts. Bone marrow examination showed normocellular or hypercellular marrow with increased myeloid:erythroid ratios and increased numbers of megakaryocytes. All patients had abnormalities in maturation of all cell lines, most prominent in the granulocytic series. This constellation of features is similar to the findings in the myelodysplastic syndromes (preleukemia). The authors suggest that myelodysplasia in patients with AIDS results in ineffective hematopoiesis and contributes to the peripheral blood cytopenias found in these patients. Myelodysplasia could be a direct or indirect effect of human T-lymphotropic retrovirus-III (HTLV-III).