Pediatric Extramedullary Hematopoiesis

  • Etiology: Response to long-standing anemia or extensive bone marrow replacement from myeloproliferative disorder
  • Imaging:
    — Mass-like expansion of hematopoietic tissue outside of bone marrow
    — Common location is paravertebral in the posterior mediastinum
    — May also see diffuse hepatomegaly and splenomegaly
  • DDX:
  • Complications:
  • Treatment:
  • Clinical: Usually asymptomatic and incidentally detected

Radiology Cases of Extramedullary Hematopoiesis

Radiology Cases of Extramedullary Hematopoiesis in the Paravertebral Soft Tissues

CXR of extramedullary hematopoesis in thalassemia
CXR AP shows diffuse osteopenia of the bones, lobulated masses projecting over the posterior portions of the ribs bilaterally, and an expanded appearance of the anterior and posterior aspects of the ribs.

Radiology Cases of Extramedullary Hematopoiesis in the Spleen

MRI of extramedullary hematopoesis of the spleen
Coronal T2 MRI of the abdomen (above) shows multiple round high signal intensity lesions in the spleen. Axial T1 MRI with contrast (below) shows the splenic lesions to enhance avidly and homogenously