On evaluation in the hematology clinic of this hospital, the patient reported occasional mild dyspnea on exertion and no fevers, chills, or night sweats, no diarrhea, and no sinopulmonary infections. Her appetite was normal, and the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status was 1 (symptomatic but ambulatory and working) on a scale of 0 to 5, where 0 is normal and 5 signifies death. She had arthritis in the left knee and asthma and had had a lung biopsy in the past for unclear reasons; examination of the biopsy specimen reportedly showed no abnormalities. Medications in the recent past included albuterol and ipratropium metered-dose inhalers, tramadol hydrochloride, and iron supplements; she had no known allergies. She was born in Cambodia, lived in the northeastern United States with her daughter, and worked in a health-related field. She had stopped smoking cigarettes 15 years earlier, drank alcohol in moderation, and did not use illicit drugs. Two sisters had died of heart disease; there was no family history of hematologic cancer.
On examination, the patient appeared well, without respiratory distress. The weight was 63.5 kg, the temperature 36.1°C, the blood pressure 122/68 mm Hg, the pulse 85 beats per minute, and the oxygen saturation 100% while she was breathing ambient air. There were occasional expiratory wheezes, without rales or rhonchi. The spleen tip was palpated approximately 12 cm below the left costal margin, and there was no hepatomegaly. The remainder of the examination was normal. Serum levels of electrolytes, glucose, protein, albumin, globulin, calcium, magnesium, and lactate dehydrogenase were normal, as were results of tests of coagulation, renal function, and liver function. Examination of a peripheral-blood smear showed features similar to those of the earlier specimen; other test results are shown in Table 1.
Later that day, bone marrow aspiration and biopsy were performed. Pathological examination of the core-biopsy specimen revealed a normocellular marrow for the patient's age (overall cellularity of approximately 40%), with erythroid hyperplasia and marked dyserythropoiesis. Megakaryocytes were normal in number and morphology. There were no morphologic abnormalities in the granulocytic series. Reticulin deposition was not increased. Storage iron was present, and there were no ring sideroblasts. Flow cytometry showed normal B cells and T cells and no increase in myeloid blasts. Cytogenetic analysis revealed a normal female karyotype (46,XX).
A diagnostic-test result was received.