Maternal and Perinatal Outcomes in Maternal Pancytopenia: A Case Series

Aim and background: To describe the clinical presentation of patients with pancytopenia during pregnancy.To study the maternal outcome and perinatal outcome in patients with pancytopenia in pregnancy.Pancytopenia is the reduction in all three major cellular components of blood.It is a triad which includes anemia, leukopenia, and thrombocytopenia; and is associated with increased maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality.Case description: In this article, we present seven cases of maternal pancytopenia and their obstetric outcomes.In our series, we found the prevalence of pancytopenia in pregnancy to be 0.25%.One woman had associated pre-eclampsia.Vitamin B12 and folate levels were assessed in six patients and five were found deficient.All seven women received multiple blood transfusions.A total of two of the seven delivered preterm and four had low birth weight babies.Maternal complications were seen in three women and neonatal complications were seen in four babies.Conclusion: Pancytopenia is uncommon in pregnancy and can be managed with a multidisciplinary team involving obstetricians, physicians, hematologists, and good blood bank facilities.Timely interventions and proper care during pregnancy and delivery in patients with pancytopenia have the potential to limit adverse events.Clinical significance: Pancytopenia in pregnancy is a challenging complication for obstetricians to manage and may result in several maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality if not properly identified and treated.Hence such patients should be managed in a tertiary care hospital with good infrastructure and multispecialty facilities.