TITLE:
Relative Monocytosis in Patients with Erythrocytosis
AUTHORS:
Hiroshi Fujita, Akira Ohwada, Naoko Handa, Shigeko Nishimura
KEYWORDS:
Erythropoietin; Monocyte; Erythrocytosis
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Blood Diseases,
Vol.3 No.1,
March
29,
2013
ABSTRACT: Polycythemia vera (PV) is
characterized by leukocytosis, thrombocytosis, and low mean
capsular volume (MCV). No specific hematological findings are
observed in patients with erythrocytosis of other origins. However, recombinant
erythropoietin (EPO) increases the number of mononuclear cells in the peripheral
blood. Therefore, we hematologically examined monocytes in patients with
erythrocytosis. The medical records of 48 erythrocytosis patients (hemoglobin: men, >18.5
g/dL; women, >16.5
g/dL) collected between August 2005 and July 2012 were reviewed for age, gender, hematology, and
serum erythropoietin level. Patients were divided into 3 groups: PV (N = 17),
reactive erythrocytosis (RE, N = 25), and EPO-elevated erythrocytosis (EPO-E, N
= 6). We compared monocytes in the hemogram among the 3 groups and examined the
correlation between hematological data and serum EPO level. The percent
monocytes in the hemogram were 3.4% ± 0.3%, 7.4% ± 0.4%, and 12.3% ± 1.1% for
the PV, RE, and EPO-E groups, respectively, which were significant (p 9/L)
were significantly higher than those in the PV (0.6 ± 0.1 × 109/L)
and RE (0.5 ± 0.3 × 109/L) groups. There were 2 (12%), 0, and 3
(50%) patients with monocytosis (>1.0 ′ 109/L) in the PV, RE, and EPO-E groups, respectively.
A significant correlation was observed between percent monocyte or absolute
monocyte count and serum EPO level. In conclusion, monocyte count in hemograms may be useful for diagnosing EPO-elevated erythrocytosis.