Morphometric analysis of myelofibrosis in agnogenic myeloid metaplasia and chronic myelogenous leukemia.

A morphometric analysis of bone marrow biopsy specimens from patients with myelofibrosis was made to determine the amount of lattice fiber and the number of megakaryocytes, to compare the degree of myelofibrosis in primary and secondary myelofibrosis, and to assess the relationship between the morphometric findings and other parameters. Eight patients with agnogenic myeloid metaplasia (AMM) and six with chronic myelogenous leukemia associated with frank myelofibrosis (CML-MF) were studied. When the main clinical, hematological, and laboratory features of both groups of patients were compared, the only significant difference was in the neutrophil alkaline phosphatase score. Morphometric study showed that the amount of lattice fiber and the number of megakaryocytes in AMM were not statistically different from those in CML-MF, and that neither the number of megakaryocytes nor the platelet count correlated with the amount of lattice fiber.