18 - Hemolytic anemia application exercises Flashcards
What pathology does this image show?
Spherocytes! (normal sized RBCs with increased Hb concentration… less flexible and shortened life span)
What is the most likely RBC parameter associated with spherocytes? What are 3 major diseases that can cause this?
Increased mean cell Hb concentration (MCHC)
**could be hereditary spherocytosis (inherited), autoimmune hemolytic anemia, or thermal injury (acquired)
What are 3 examples of congenital RBC membrane disorders?
Hereditary:
- sherocytosis
- elliptocytosis
- pyropoikilocytosis
What is the pathogenesis of hereditary spherocytosis?
Unstable membrane forms blebs which are cleaved off by macrophages… this results in membrane loss but no change in RBC volume
How common is hereditary spherocytosis? What are the possible defects that cause it?
- most common inherited hemolytic anemia in the US (1/5000)
- primarily defects in:
- ankyrin (most common)
- alpha/beta spectrin
- band 3 or band 4.2
- most patients have deficiencies in BOTH ankyrin and spectrin (without ankyrin to support spectrin you also develop a spectrin deficiency)
What are the clinical features of hereditary shperocytosis?
- wide variability in severity of hemolysis (asymptomatic incidental finding to severe)
- splenomegaly
- aplastic crisis (red cell aplasia results from parvovirus infecting/killing erythroid precursors)
How do you diagnose hereditary spherocytosis?
- family history
- peripheral blood review (spherocytes) with negative direct antiglobulin test (neg means it’s not autoimmune/acquired!)
- osmotic fragility (old)
How do you manage a patient with hereditary spherocytosis?
- depends on clinical severity
- manage chronic hemolysis (gallstones, jaundice, folate supplementations)
- aplastic crisis
- splenectomy (complete in adults, partial in children < 6) **spleen is taking RBCs out of circulation because of their abnormal membrane… if we remove it we allow the spherocytes to carry oxygen like normal RBCs because there’s nothing functionally wrong with them!
What is DAT?
The direct antiglobulin test (you add antibodies to a sample of a patient’s blood that detect the anti-RBC antibodies causing the disease)
What are some major features of autoimmune hemolytic anemias (AIHAs)
- host Abs reactive with autologous RBCs
- shortened in vivo RBC survival
- exceptions= positive DAT without hemolysis and cold agglutinins
- classified according to optimal temperature of antibody activity
- warm= 37 C
- cold= 0-5 C (not functional in vivo)
Describe warm autoantibody AIHA
- ~80% of all AIHAs
- idiopathic/primary (60%)
- secondary (40%)
- lymphoproliferative disorders
- autoimmune disorders
- non-hematopoietic neoplasms (e.g. ovarian cancer)
- drugs (e.g. alpha methyldopa, cephalosporins)
Describe cold autoantibody AIHA
- ~20% of all AIHAs
- idiopathic
- secondary
- lymphoproliferative disorders
- postinfectious (e.g. infectious mononucleosis, mycoplasma)
What is the pathogenesis of AIHAs?
- warm
- Antibody (IgG) or complement mediated extravascular hemolysis
- spherocyte production
- cold
- IgM mediated agglutination (impedes blood flow in superficial distal vessels)
- IgM and complement mediated RBC injury (extravascular AND intravascular hemolysis)
What is seen in this image?
Cold agglutinins (may be seen in cold AIHA… usually doesn’t cause anemia but may cause obstructive symptoms)
What are the clinical symptoms of warm AIHA?
**She said to know this!!
- anemia symptoms mild to severe (with massive hemolysis)
- organomegaly