Background: Pancytopenia is a relatively common hematological entity. It is a striking feature of many serious and life threatening illnesses. The severity of pancytopenia and the underlying pathology determine the management & prognosis. Thus identification of etiology will help for better management and complete cure and better treatment  of patients.

Objectives:

1. To find out the underlying etiopathology of pancytopenia.

2. To study the clinical presentations in pancytopenia due to various causes.

Methods: This study was a cross sectional study that was conducted at department of medicine of Rajendra Institute of medical sciences on  one hundred pancytopenia patients who  were evaluated clinically, along with hematological parameters and bone marrow aspiration.

Results: Among 100 cases studied ,most patients presented with generalized weakness. The commonest physical finding was pallor followed by splenomegaly and hepatomegaly. Macrocytic anaemia  was the predominant blood picture.. The commonest bone marrow finding wasmegaloblastic erythroid hyperplasia. The commonest cause for pancytopenia was megaloblastic anemia (60%), followed by haematological malignancy (20%) and  aplastic anemia (12%). Other causes of pancytopenia were hypersplenism, leishmaniasis.

Conclusion: The commonest cause of pancytopenia in our study is megaloblastic anemia. This is in sharp contrast to  the commonest cause of pancytopenia in various studies throughout the world where aplastic anemia has been the most common cause.