Myelokathexis: a rare form of chronic benign granulocytopenia

SUMMARY A case of childhood chronic neutropenia due to myelokathexis is reported. This extremely rare condition (the fourth case in the literature) has been diagnosed from the characteristic bone marrow abnormalities in the neutrophils. Myelokathexis (kathexis‐retention) is a form of childhood granulocytopenia characterized by marked degenerative changes in mature neutrophils and considerable hyperplasia of the bone marrow myeloid cell series. The disease is rare and, since the first description by Zuelzer in 1964, only two additional cases have been reported (Krill et ah 1964; O'Regan et al 1977). We wish to describe the first case observed in Italy which is also the first reported outside U.S.A.