Chronic arsenic poisoning can cause a pancytopenia, sometimes with features suggestive of myelodysplasia.
NOTE: Arsenic trioxide is used to treat myelodysplasia, inducing apoptosis.
Chronic arsenic poisoning can cause:
(1) hemolytic anemia
(2) pancytopenia
(3) hypoplastic marrow
(4) dysmyelopoietic changes in bone marrow elements
Confounding factors:
(1) nutritional deficiency (vitamin B12, other)
(2) copper or other heavy metal poisoning
(3) benzene or other occupational exposures
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Specialty: Hematology Oncology
