TMSS Medical College Journal

Extramedullary hematopoiesis (EMH) refers to hematopoiesis that occurs outside the bone marrow. It may be physiological, like during fetal development, or may be pathological, like in hematopoietic disorder. The typical sites of EMH involve the liver,spleen,thorax and lymph nodes. In our case, the diagnosis was confirmed by the patient's history stating past hematological disorder, computed tomography (CT) scan findings and by fine needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) test.

Hematopoiesis- Hemato (blood) and poiesis (formation) is the process in which all blood cells (Red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets) are formed. In a healthy person, approximately 10 billion new blood cells are Produced Per day in the body to ‘maintain blood cells. During embryonic life, the yolk sac is the main site of hematopoiesis from the 3rd week of gestation. The liver and Spleen are the main sites of hematopoiesis from the 3rd month of embryonic life till birth. By the 4th and Sth month of embryonic life bone marrow will also Start Producing blood cells. After birth, the liver and Spleen stop producing blood cells, and bone marrow is the only source of new blood cell formation. In normal healthy adult hematopoiesis occurs from the bone marrow is termed as medullary hematopoiesis.! If hematopoiesis occurs other than in the bone marrow, this is termed extramedullary hematopoiesis. It is an abnormal phenomenon. Initially, it is microscopic and asymptomatic, but when it enlarges sufficiently, it produces a tumor-like mass. It is typically seen in the spleen, liver, and lymph nodes, but also can be seen in some atypical sites like adipose tissue, breast, adrenal gland, kidney, thymus, heart, peripheral nerve, lung, cartilage, broad ligament, retroperitoneum, epidural space, and epididymis, and some soft tissues of the body. * In this report, we discuss the case of a 35-year-old male who presented to the OPD with exertional dyspnea. After considering its radiological findings, we diagnosed it as a benign neurogenic tumor however later, we performed a fine needle aspiration biopsy for confirmation, and we finally diagnosed it as an EMH.