Aplastic Anaemia, Causes, Signs and Symptoms, Diagnosis and Treatment.

Aplastic anaemia is a rare disease in which the bone marrow and the hematopoietic stem cells that reside there are damaged.This causes a deficiency of all three blood cell types (pancytopenia): red blood cells (anemia), white blood cells (leukopenia), and platelets (thrombocytopenia). Aplastic refers to the inability of stem cells to generate mature blood cells.

It is more frequent in people in their teens and twenties, but is also common among the elderly. It can be caused by heredity, immune disease, or exposure to chemicals, drugs, or radiation. However, in about half the cases, the cause is unknown.

The definitive diagnosis is by bone marrow biopsy; normal bone marrow has 30–70% blood stem cells, but in aplastic anaemia, these cells are mostly gone and replaced by fat.