What is the Difference Between Pancytopenia and Thrombocytopenia

The key difference between pancytopenia and thrombocytopenia is that pancytopenia occurs when there are abnormally low amounts of all three types of blood cells, including red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets, while thrombocytopenia occurs when there is an abnormally low amount of platelets.

Pancytopenia and thrombocytopenia are two medical conditions that are due to abnormally low levels of blood cells. These medical conditions may have similar symptoms, such as severe bleeding and weakness. Both medical conditions can be mainly treated through blood transfusion.

CONTENTS

1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Pancytopenia  
3. What is Thrombocytopenia
4. Similarities – Pancytopenia and Thrombocytopenia
5. Pancytopenia vs Thrombocytopenia in Tabular Form
6. Summary – Pancytopenia vs Thrombocytopenia

What is Pancytopenia?

Pancytopenia is a medical condition that occurs due to abnormally low amounts of all three types of blood cells: red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. It normally happens when people have a combination of three different blood disorders, namely anaemia (too few red blood cells), leukopenia (too few white blood cells), and thrombocytopenia (too few platelets). The typical symptoms of pancytopenia may include headaches, cold hands and feet, tiredness, weakness, pale skin, shortness of breath, fast and irregular heartbeat, chest pain, dizziness, infections, fever, sweating, easily bruising, prolonged bleeding from cuts, tiredness, enlarged spleen, nose bleeding from the gums, blood in urine or stools, heavy menstrual flow, loss of consciousness, confusion, seizures, and convulsions.

Moreover, some possible causes of pancytopenia may include cancer, lupus, bone marrow disorders, infections, side effects of medicines, exposure to toxins like radiation, arsenic, or benzene, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and autoimmune diseases.

Diagnosis methods for pancytopenia include a complete blood count, peripheral blood smear to observe under a microscope, checking for vitamin B12 and folate, liver function test, tests for infectious diseases, thyroid function test, and bone marrow biopsy. Furthermore, treatment options for pancytopenia may include addressing nutritional deficiency, managing underlying conditions, removing toxins from the environment, stem cell transplant, bone marrow transplant, medicines to help bone marrow to produce more blood cells, blood transfusions, and medicines to suppress the immune system.

What is Thrombocytopenia?

Thrombocytopenia is a medical condition that occurs when the bone marrow of people doesn’t make enough platelets. The symptoms of thrombocytopenia may include bleeding gums, blood in the stool, blood in the urine, blood in the vomit, heavy menstrual period, petechiae, purpura, and bruises. Moreover, the causes of thrombocytopenia may include autoimmune diseases, blood cancers (leukemia and lymphoma), cancer treatments, thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP), bacterial or viral infections, toxic chemicals (arsenic, benzene, and pesticides) and medications (antibiotics, medications for seizures and heart conditions, and blood thinner heparin).

Thrombocytopenia can be diagnosed through physical examination, peripheral blood smear, blood clot test, and bone marrow biopsy. Furthermore, treatment options for thrombocytopenia may include managing underlying conditions, steroids, blood transfusion, and surgeries like splenectomy.

What are the Similarities Between Pancytopenia and Thrombocytopenia?

• Pancytopenia and thrombocytopenia are two medical conditions due to abnormally low levels of blood cells.
• Both these medical conditions may have similar symptoms, such as severe bleeding, weakness, etc.
• Both these medical conditions can be diagnosed through physical examination and blood tests.
• They can be treated through blood transfusions.

What is the Difference Between Pancytopenia and Thrombocytopenia?

Pancytopenia is a medical condition that refers to abnormally low amounts of red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets, while thrombocytopenia is a medical condition that refers to the abnormally low amount of platelets. Thus, this is the key difference between pancytopenia and thrombocytopenia. Furthermore, the possible causes of pancytopenia may include cancer, lupus, bone marrow disorders, infections, side effects of medicines, exposure to toxins like radiation, arsenic, or benzene, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and autoimmune diseases. On the other hand, the possible causes of thrombocytopenia may include autoimmune diseases, blood cancers (leukemia and lymphoma), cancer treatments, thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TPP), bacterial or viral infections, toxic chemicals (arsenic, benzene, and pesticides) and medications (antibiotics, medications for seizures and heart conditions, and blood thinner heparin).

The below infographic presents the differences between pancytopenia and thrombocytopenia in tabular form for side-by-side comparison.

Summary – Pancytopenia vs Thrombocytopenia

Pancytopenia and thrombocytopenia are two medical conditions due to abnormally low levels of blood cells. Both these conditions may have similar symptoms, such as bleeding, weakness, blood in stool and urine, etc. Pancytopenia occurs when there are abnormally low amounts of all three types of blood cells, such as red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets, while thrombocytopenia occurs when there is an abnormally low amount of platelets. So, this summarizes the difference between pancytopenia and thrombocytopenia.

Reference:

1. “Pancytopenia: What It Is, What Causes It, and How It’s Treated.” WebMD.
2. “Thrombocytopenia: Symptoms, Stages & Treatment.” Cleveland Clinic.

Image Courtesy:

1. “Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia, Marrow Aspirate” By Ed Uthman (CC BY 2.0) via Flickr
2. “Figure 1” By Libertas Academica (CC BY 2.0) via Flickr