NCLEX RN Practice Question # 764
NCLEX Examination.
Practice Question # 764.
nclex examination.
Aplastic anemia
Aplastic, or hypoplastic, anemia results from injury to or destruction of stem cells in the bone marrow or the bone marrow matrix, causing pancytopenia (deficiency of RBCs, WBCs, and platelets) and bone marrow hypoplasia (underdevelopment).
Alarming mortality Although commonly used interchangeably with other terms for bone marrow failure, aplastic anemia properly refers to pancytopenia resulting from decreased functional capacity of a hypo plastic, fatty bone marrow. Aplastic anemia with severe pancytopenia carries a mortality of 80% to 90%. Death may result from bleeding or infection.
What causes it
Aplastic anemia may result from:
- adverse drug reactions
- exposure to toxic agents, such as benzene and chloramphenicol
- radiation
- immunologic factors
- severe disease, especially hepatitis
- preleukemia and neoplastic infiltration of bone marrow
- congenital abnormalities
- induced changes in fetal development (suspected as a cause when no consistent genetic history of aplastic anemia exists).