Abstract      Introduction: Incidence of malignancies is on the rise. Advances in treatment protocols have resulted in increased longevity of the patients. Therefore greater focus is now on comorbid conditions, treatment of which would improve the survival and quality of life Aims and Objective: To Study of Incidence and Pattern of Anaemia in Patients with Non-Haematological Malignancies. Methodology: This study was carried out in the department of Clinical Pathology on the patients admitted to an urban referral hospital. A total number of 40 in patients with various nonhaematological malignancies were screened for anaemia. Based on Hb cut-off of 12 g/dL, 33 of them were recruited for the study. Complete Haemogram was done using Sysmex KX-21, fully automated haematology analyzer (manufacturers: Sysmex Corporation, Japan). Result: Out of the 33 peripheral smears studied, 70% (n=23) were normocytic normochromic, 21% (n= 7) were microcytic hypochromic, and the remaining 9% (n=3) were normocytic hypochromic. On peripheral smear no evidence of bone marrow suppression or replacement was found. Seven out of eight men (87.5%) had reduced RBC count. Fifteen women (60%) had reduced RBC counts. All the men in the present study had reduced haematocrit. Twenty women (80%) had reduced haematocrit. Reduced MCV was observed in 10 patients (30.3%) out of 33 cases, Seventeen patients (51.5%) had reduced MCH, Eighteen patients (54.5%) had reduced MCHC. Fifteen patients (45.5%) had increased RDW. In the present study, ten patients (30%) had serum iron <50 μg/dL. 16 patients (48.5%) had serum ferritin >50 ng/mL, 13 patients (39.4%) had serum ferritin between 12–50 ng/mL and the remaining four patients (12.1%) had <12 ng/mL of ferritin. TIBC was within normal range in 18 patients (54.55%), low in 11 patients (33.33%), and raised in four patients (12.12%). Conclusion: Normocytic normochromic anaemia was most commonly seen. Red cell indices and serum iron, TIBC and serum ferritin were found to be useful parameters in precise assessment of anaemia and its type. Bone marrow suppression, haemolysis and abnormal renal / liver functions were not observed. This study proves that a number of different factors contribute to the development of anaemia in malignancy, and it is common for several factors to operate in patients with malignancy. The type of anaemia depends on the dominant underlying mechanism or mechanisms.

Keywords: Incidence and Pattern of Anaemia, Non-Haematological Malignancies.