Vacuolization of hematopoietic precursors: an enigma with multiple etiologies

Abstract

Cytoplasmic vacuoles in precursors can be seen in a number of clinical settings, including copper deficiency, zinc toxicity, alcohol abuse, antibiotic treatment, myelodysplasia, and VEXAS syndrome. Gurnari et al asked how common VEXAS syndrome is in patients whose bone marrow aspirates show this distinctive feature, finding 2 diagnoses of VEXAS among 24 cases with vacuoles.