L31: Anemias, Pt. 2 Flashcards
What are the 2 main causes of decreased RBC survival in circulation?
Intrinsic causes: problems with RBCs (most inherited)
Extrinsic causes: problems outside of RBC (acquired)
Erythroid hyperplasia
Bone marrow responds to anemia by increasing erythropoiesis to replace RBCs lost (EPO-mediated)
Briefly differentiate extravascular hemolysis and intravascular hemolysis
Extravascular hemolysis: macrophage-mediated; RBCs hemolyzed in macrophage in spleen, liver; get spherocytes in PB
Intravascular hemolysis: fragmentation; RBCs hemolyzed in peripheral blood; get schistocytes in PB
What is evidence of RBC regeneration in diagnosis of hemolytic anemia?
BM: erythroid hyperplasia (in chronic hemolysis, BM may compensate for RBC loss, and no anemia develops)
PB: ~3 days after hemolytic event; ↑ retics (polychromasia on blood smear); NRBCs if anemia severe; ↑ MCV from baseline (due to retics/NRBCs which have larger volume)
What is evidence of hemolysis in diagnosis of hemolytic anemia?
↑ unconjugated bilirubin (not immediate, takes 2 - 3 days to see increase after a hemolytic event)
↓ haptoglobin (precautions in interpretation: acute phase reactants are increased in inflammation and infections; also, is produced in liver so it decreases in liver disease)
Hemoglobinuria in intravascular hemolysis (when haptoglobin and hemoplexin are depleted and the amount of Hb in glomerular filtrate exceeds amount that can be reabsorbed)
↑ lactate dehydrogenase: released from RBCs; not specific for hemolysis; found in almost all cells and increases in cell tissue/damage, lymphoma, testicular and other cancers
How can intravascular and extravascular hemolysis be differentiated in lab findings in hemolytic anemia?
Free plasma hemoglobin increases in intravascular
Serum haptaglobin is greatly decreased in intravascular hemolysis and somewhat decreased in extravascular
There is urine hemoglobin and urine hemosiderin in intravascular hemolysis
What are manifestations of acute hemolysis?
Brown urine: methemoglobinuria found in intravascular hemolysis (oxidation or red hemoglobin in urine to brown methemoglobin); urine pos from blod but few or no RBCs microscopically
Malaises, aches, fever, vomiting, abdominal pain
Esophageal spasm, dysphagia, erectile dysfunction, platelet activation/thrombosis (in intravascular hemolysis, free Hb rapidly removes nitric oxide)
Renal failure (flank pain), shock, death
Differential diagnosis for patient with brown urine
Acute hemolysis OR rhabdomyolysis (myoglobin released from damaged muscle cells is excreted in urine and appears as a brown color)
What are manifestations of chronic hemolysis?
Fatigue, pallor
Jaundice pre-hepatic (yellow skin, sclera); ↑ unconjugated bilirubin
Cholelithiasis: gallstones due to ↑ bilirubin in bile
Kernicterus in newborns: due to diffusion of unconjugated bilirubin past the blood-brain barrier
Splenomegaly: chronic macrophage-mediated hemolysis
Bone deformities in children: due to excessive erythropoiesis
Iron overload: especially if anemia is transfusion-dependent
What are intrinsic causes of hemolysis?
Membrane defects: mutation in transmembrane or cytoskeletal protein
Enzyme deficiencies: mutation in RBC enzyme
Hemoglobinopathies: mutation in polypeptide chain of hemoglobin
Vertical hereditary membrane defect
Mutation in protein that disrupts the linkage b/w the transmembrane and cytoskeletal proteins
Horizontal hereditary membrane defect
Mutation in cytoskeletal protein that disrupts the cytoskeleton
Hereditary elliptocytosis
A horizontal membrane defect that causes shape change or fragmentation: elliptocytes, poikilocytosis
Hereditary spherocytosis (HS)
Mutation in membrane protein (ankyrin, spectrin, others)
Vertical membrane defect
Spherocytes trapped in spleen causes extravascular hemolysis
Anemia, jaundice, splenomegaly
Mild - moderate aenmia
↑ Retics, unconjugated bili, osmotic fragility
Asplastic crisis (parovirus B19 infection)
Treatment: splenomegaly in severe cases to reduce hemolysis
What conditions other than HS cause spherocytes?
Other inherited membrane defects
Acquired conditions that damage RBC membrane
Burns (microspherocytes and shistocytes due to thermal damage to RBC membrane for first 24 hours after thermal injury)
Microangiopathic hemolytic anemia (microspherocytes and schistocytes due to rupture of RBCs passing through small blood vessels partially blocked by thrombi)
Immune hemolytic anemia (antibody binding to RBC membrane causes membrane damage and membrane loss)
What causes paroxysmal noctural hemoglobinuria (PNH)
Acquired membrane defect causing chronic intravascular hemolysis
Hematopoietic stem cell acquires somatic mutation in the PIGA gene on the X chromosome (absence of glycosylphosphatidylinositol or GPI anchored proteins on cell surface; affects RBCs, WBCs, and PLTs
2 GPI-anchored proteins, CD55 and CD59, protect RBC from complement lysis
Loss of CD55 and CD59 makes RBCs susceptible to complement lysis
Eculizumab
Anti-C5
A recent treatment for PNH
Inhibits complement from lysing cells
Features of PNH
Episodic hemoglobinuria and hemosiderinuria (not nocturnal pattern)
Venous thrombosis in unusual locations
Diagnosis: absence of CD59, CD55, and other GPI-linked proteins on cell surfaces (flow cytometry)
Triad: hemolytic anemia,pancytopenia, venous thrombosis