Objective  To improve the knowledge of bone marrow tuberculosis by summarizing the risk factors, clinical features, diagnosis, therapeutic response and prognosis. Methods  The medical records of 62 patients with bone marrow tuberculosis from January 2004 to December 2014 were retrospectively analyzed. Results  The patients included 34 males and 28 females. Their age ranged from 15 to 80 years with a mean age of 45.3±35.7 years. Among them, 21 cases (33.9%) had one or more risk factors such as advanced kidney disease or liver disease, chronic respiratory disease, rheumatoid immune system disease and diabetes. No specific clinical features were found in patients with bone marrow tuberculosis, and the most common symptom was fever (98.4%). Blood routine examination revealed that variety of hematological abnormalities include leucopenia, thrombocytopenia, anemia or pancytopenia occurred in 59 patients (95.2%). Chest CT scan showed typical disseminated tuberculosis in 22 patients (36.1%), secondary pulmonary tuberculosis in 6 patients (9.8%), and atypical manifestations of tuberculosis in 26 patients (42.6%). The common patterns of abdomen abnormalities on ultrasonic testing or CT scan were hepatosplenomegaly. Bone marrow biopsy was performed in all the 62 patients, among them, the needle-aspirated bone marrow specimens showed granulomatous lesions in 53 patients (85.5%). The acid-fast staining of bone marrow smear was performed in a total of 57 patients, which was positive in 28 patients (49.1%). Twenty-five patients completed phone call follow-up, and 8 patients died from bone marrow tuberculosis and its complications. Conclusions  Bone marrow tuberculosis is a rare manifestation of disseminated tuberculosis. The common symptom of this disease is pyrexia . The clinical presentations and laboratory examinations of this disease are nonspecific. Bone marrow biopsy is a major method for diagnosis. Part of patients with bone marrow tuberculosis lack of imaging proof for lung lesion. Therefore, we should heighten vigilance for bone marrow tuberculosis in patients with fever of unknown origin.

Citation： LI Ying, WANG Faping, MAO Hui. Clinical characteristics of bone marrow tuberculosis and literature review. Chinese Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 2017, 16(2): 109-116. doi: 10.7507/1671-6205.201609017 Copy