Getting to Know About Hemolytic Anemia

Are you curious about what hemolytic anemia is? Do you have the condition or does someone you know have it? Hemolytic anemia is a blood condition in which there are not enough red blood cells in the blood of the individual. Different things including an infection, or certain medications can cause the lack of enough red blood cells, autoimmune disorders can cause hemolytic anemia as well as other inherited disorders. There are various types of hemolytic anemia such as Sickle-cell anemia, paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria, hemolytic anemia due to G6PD deficiency, and hereditary elliptocytosis, spherocytosis, ovalocytosis, and also idiopathic autoimmune hemolytic anemia.

The symptoms of hemolytic anemia include having chills, being fatigued, having pale skin, and experiencing shortness of breath, or having a rapid heart rate. The individual may also have yellowed skin, dark urine or an enlarged spleen.

How do doctors diagnose hemolytic anemia?

There are various tests that can be conducted including some that are specific to hemolytic anemia such as looking for elevated indirect bilirubin levels, low serum haptoglobin, hemoglobin in the urine or hemosiderin in the urin, also an increased urine and fecal urobilinogen and an elevated absolute reticulocyte count. The individual will have a low red blood cell count and low hemoglobin as well as an elevated serum LDH. The doctor may also order a direct measurement of the red cell life span by radioactive tagging techniques, which will show a shortened life span for the red blood cells.

The doctor will have several goals when treating the patient with hemolytic anemia. The first goal is to reduce or stop the hemolysis of red blood cells. The second goal is to increase the red blood cell count as close to normal levels as possible. Lastly the doctor will want to treat any underlying cause.

Treatments are based on the type of hemolytic anemia the patient has, the cause for the anemia, and the severity of the hemolytic anemia. The treatment will also be based on age, and also the medical history.

If the doctor can isolate the underlying cause, the anemia may go away when the cause is treated.

Severe hemolytic anemia can be life threatening if it is not treated promptly.

Common treatments include blood transfusions, medications, lifestyle changes, and a treatment to remove antibodies from the red blood cells called, "plasmapheresis", surgery, and a bone marrow or stem cell transplant.

Medications used to treat hemolytic anemia:

If you have autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA) you may be treated with corticosteroid medications, such as prednisone. If you need to suppress the immune system, medications such as azathioprine, cyclophosphamide, or danazol may also be prescribed.

Intravenous gamma globulin may als be prescribed to suppress antibody formation if the individual does not respond well to the corticosteroids.

If other treatments designed to effect the immune systme plasmapheresis may be tried. Plasmapheresis removes the antibodies from red blood cells.

Tags: hemolytic anemia, anemia, plasmapheresis