Affiliations 

  • 1 International Islamic University Malaysia
  • 2 University of Malaya Medical Centre
MyJurnal

Abstract

Extramedullary hematopoiesis (EH) is a rare but well-known compensatory mechanism of red blood cell production when the normal site of red bone marrow is unable to produce sufficient number of red blood cells. When the body demands for erythrocyte cells is high this lead to EH. This occurs mainly outside the bone marrow, usually paraspinally and sites which are normally observed in the fetus as in the liver, spleen, lymph nodes and less frequently at other sites such as adrenal, thymus, kidneys, pleura, breast, skin, gastrointestinal tract, dura mater and brain.This is more frequent in thalassaemia major (incidence up to 15% of cases), in myelofibrosis, myeloproliferative diseases (polycythemia rubra vera, chronic myeloid leukemia,), hemolytic anemias such as hereditary spherocytosis, pyruvate-kinase deficiency, medullary tuberculosis and in Paget’s disease of the bone. In some cases the cause of the EH are not identified [3]. We describe a case of EH in the presacral space that mimicked an ovarian mass on ultrasound in a patient with beta-thalassaemia intermedia.