# Cytopenias and myelosuppression

Source: https://onco.cc/terms/cytopenias/  
OnCo record `cytopenias` (Term). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

The umbrella term for low blood counts of any kind (white cells, red cells, platelets) when treatment suppresses the bone marrow. Most chemotherapy causes it temporarily; radioligands, CAR-T and some pills cause longer-lasting versions.

## Summary

Myelosuppression is the shared toxicity of cytotoxic chemotherapy, conditioning regimens, lymphodepletion, radioligand therapy (177Lu-PSMA, PRRT) and a range of targeted agents, graded per lineage by CTCAE; pancytopenia means all three lineages are low. Blood counts before each cycle gate treatment, and delays and dose reductions are the standard responses. After CAR-T, prolonged and biphasic cytopenias (ICAHT) affect a third of patients and drive infection deaths months after infusion; lymphopenia is a marker of poorer immunotherapy outcomes. Therapy-related MDS is the late, permanent form of marrow injury.

## Fields

- Kind: Term
- Last checked: 2026-09-09
- Also known as: cytopenia; cytopenias; myelosuppression; myelosuppressive; bone marrow suppression; marrow suppression; marrow toxicity; haematological toxicity; hematological toxicity; haematologic toxicity; hematologic toxicity; pancytopenia; bicytopenia; lymphopenia; lymphocytopenia; prolonged cytopenias; late cytopenias; ICAHT; immune effector cell-associated haematotoxicity; count recovery; blood counts; full blood count; complete blood count; CBC

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myelosuppression
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myelosuppression

## Connected records

- terms: [Anaemia](https://onco.cc/terms/anaemia/), [Febrile neutropenia](https://onco.cc/terms/febrile-neutropenia/), [Hypogammaglobulinaemia and infection risk after B-cell therapies](https://onco.cc/terms/hypogammaglobulinaemia/), [Lymphodepletion before CAR-T](https://onco.cc/terms/lymphodepletion/), [Neutropenia](https://onco.cc/terms/neutropenia/), [Thrombocytopenia](https://onco.cc/terms/thrombocytopenia/)
- cancers: [Advanced systemic mastocytosis (aggressive SM, SM with an associated haematological neoplasm, mast cell leukaemia)](https://onco.cc/cancers/advanced-systemic-mastocytosis/), [Chronic myelomonocytic leukaemia and MDS/MPN overlap neoplasms](https://onco.cc/cancers/cmml/), [Multisystem Langerhans cell histiocytosis (with or without risk-organ involvement)](https://onco.cc/cancers/lch-multisystem/), [Myelodysplastic syndromes / neoplasms (MDS)](https://onco.cc/cancers/mds/), [Systemic mastocytosis](https://onco.cc/cancers/systemic-mastocytosis/)
- fronts: [Supportive Care & Survivorship](https://onco.cc/fronts/supportive-care/)
- technologies: [Blood counts that do not come back after CAR-T: ICAHT](https://onco.cc/technologies/rejuv-tx-prolonged-cytopenias/), [Infection risk after transplant and cell therapy, phase by phase, and the prophylaxis that follows it](https://onco.cc/technologies/rejuv-tx-infection-by-phase/), [Iron overload after transplant](https://onco.cc/technologies/rejuv-tx-iron-overload/), [Rebuilding an immune system: the timeline, lineage by lineage](https://onco.cc/technologies/rejuv-tx-immune-reconstitution-timeline/), [When steroids fail: ruxolitinib for steroid-refractory GvHD](https://onco.cc/technologies/gvhd-ruxolitinib-steroid-refractory/)

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