Gelatinous transformation of bone marrow in systemic lupus erythematosus.

Gelatinous transformation of marrow is a rare disease entity described in cachexia and various other disorders. Its association with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) has never been reported. We found gelatinous transformation in 3 of 30 patients with SLE with pancytopenia. Two of these patients were cachetic, one of whom also had active tuberculosis. We propose that gelatinous transformation can be associated with SLE, and its detection calls for an evaluation of nutritional status, and a search for chronic debilitating infections such as tuberculosis.