| Bone marrow failure results when the marrow fails to produce adequate numbers of white cells that fight infection, red cells that carry oxygen to the tissues of the body and platelets which promote clotting and stop bleeding. Inferences about the causes of bone marrow failure can be made by examination of the blood and marrow, tests for viral infections, exposure to toxic agents and family history.
There are two major categories of bone marrow failure:
- Severe aplastic anemia is the result of exposure to radiation, chemicals and drugs, and viral infections. Most patients with severe aplastic anemia have the idiopathic form, meaning the cause is unknown.
- Inherited bone marrow failure is the result of a genetic abnormality. Risk of bone marrow failure can be passed to subsequent generations in some cases. The most common inherited marrow failure syndrome is Fanconi's anemia. Other inherited bone marrow failure syndromes are:
- Schwachman-Diamond syndrome
- Dyskeratosis congenita
- Amegakaryocytic thrombocytopenia
- Other genetic syndromes
- Down syndrome
- Dubowitz syndrome
- Seckel's syndrome
- Reticular dysgenesis
- Schimke immuno-osseous dysplasia
- Familial aplastic anemia (non-Fanconi's anemia)
- Diamond-Blackfan anemia
- Kostmann's syndrome (congenital neutropenia)
- Other inherited neutropenia syndromes
- Barth syndrome
- Glycogen storage disease 1B
- Thrombocytopenia with absent radii
- Contenital dyserythropoietic anemias
- Types I, II and III
- Variants
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