NEUTROPENIA IN PEDIATRIC PRACTICE
Neutropenias are quite frequent in the pediatric practice, and each case of neutropenia needs a thorough diagnostics and differential diagnosis to define the correct approach for treatment according to its etiology. In this respect, it is essential to analyze the materials of the long-term follow-up of children with neutropenias, diagnostic methods widely deployed in the pediatric practices to specify the neutropenia etiology and develop the management tactics for the patients with the chronic benign neutropenia of childhood in the outpatient settings. In our research, we have observed 41 children aged from 3 months to 12 years, all of them suffering from neutropenia. To specify the nature of neutropenia, we employed the history taking, data on the health of the relatives, clinical examination, complete blood count, bone marrow puncture, immunological markers. Once the diagnosis has been verified, the children were observed by the pediatrician and hematologist until they reached the normalization of neutrophil counts (for 6 to 7 years). Thirty two children had the chronic benign neutropenia of childhood; 5 children suffered from aplastic anemia; 2 children were diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome and another 2 with the genetic form of neutropenia (Kostmann disease). Based on the long-term observations, we offered for the children with the chronic benign neutropenia of childhood a special program of the regular medical examination in the childrens polyclinic and recommended the rate of examinations and checkups. The patients with this form of neutropenia were observed until the neutrophil counts normalized and 1 year thereafter. (Pediatric Diagnostics. 2009. № 2. Р. 69-72).