Abstract
Early diagnosis of aplastic anemia is not easy if the cellularity of a bone marrow examination does not correlate to the severity of pancytopenia. We performed magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in three patients with moderate aplastic anemia. Although the decrease in cellularity of bone marrow specimen was mild in two cases, multiple high-signal intensity foci were shown on sagittal T 1-weighted magnetic resonance images of the lumbar spine. All patients received immunosuppression, including antithymocyte globulin and cyclosporin. High-signal intensity regions on MRI were improved during complete remission. MRI is one helpful method to evaluate the cellularity of bone marrow.
