[Megaloblastic erythropoiesis in stem cell leukemias].

Among 62 untreated patients with acute leucaemia the primary appearance of a megaloblastic erythropoiesis in the sternal marrow was found in 21 patients. Age and sex were without importance. Megaloblastic cell changes were found only in those patients, the leucaemia cells of whom were classified as particularly immature and were attributed to the type of stem cells or paraleucoblasts. The megaloblastic erythropoiesis might be an expression of a particularly severe neoplastic change and disturbance of differentiation of the pluripotent stem cell. The behaviour of the primarily already megaloblastically disturbed erythropoiesis in patients with leucaemia under cytostatic therapy is described on two observations of the course, in which cases the change of the findings in the bone-marrow is evident.