[Analysis of Clinical and Hematologic Features in 22 Patients with Metastatic Carcinoma of Bone Marrow]

The clinical and hematologic features in 22 patients with metastatic carcinoma of bone marrow were observed and analyzed. Morphology of bone marrow cells, bone marrow biopsy and other accessory examinations were performed. The primary or cardinal symptoms of metastatic carcinoma of bone marrow included anemia (17 cases, 77.3%), ostealgia (10 cases, 45.5%), fever (8 cases, 36.4%), hemorrhage (4 cases, 18.2%) and complicated hemolytic anemia (4 cases, 18.2%). The primary carcinomas, diagnosed by pathologic and accessory examinations, include gastric carcinoma (6 cases, 27%), lung cancer (3 cases, 13.6%), ovarian cancer (2 cases, 9%), mammary cancer, prostatic carcinoma, osteocarcinoma and metastatic malignant melanoma (1 case, respectively), and unknown primary lesion (7 cases, 31.8%). The hematologic features were decrease of hemoglobin (17 cases, 77.3%) and blood plate count (16 cases, 72.7%), leukocytosis (11 cases, 50%), immature leukocytes (14 cases, 63.6%) and erythrocytes (9 cases, 40.9%) seen on the peripheral blood smear, and reticulocytosis (4 cases, 18.2%). Masses of metastatic carcinoma cells can be frequently seen at two sides and tail of bone marrow smear. Bone marrow biopsy of 8 cases demonstrated the infiltration of carcinoma cells with nest-like distribution in the bone marrow cavity. Examination of MRI in 6 case showed destruction of bone and corpus vertebra and abnormal signal focus. Bone marrow biopsy could contribute to improve the accuracy of diagnosis and determine the origin of primary carcinoma. MRI plays an important role in diagnosis of metastatic carcinoma in bone marrow.