Health Dictionary
Reliable, easy-to-read patient information on common medical conditions — written in plain language, free of jargon, and grounded in current evidence. Browse the most frequent diagnoses, understand what they mean for everyday life, and learn which steps and questions help you have a focused conversation with your doctor.
Microangiopathic hemolytic anemia
Introduction
Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Mydah Sajid, MD[1]
Microangiopathic hemolytic anemia is a type of intra-vascular hemolysis that occurs due to a number of diseases. It is a clinical emergency and requires immediate treatment.
What are the symptoms of Microangiopathic hemolytic anemia?
It presents with wide range of clinical symptoms:
What causes Microangiopathic hemolytic anemia?
It is a clinical manifestation of a large number of underlying diseases including:
- Aortic stenosis
- Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura
- Hemolytic uremic syndrome
- Disseminated intravascular coagulation
- Cancer
- Mechanical heart valve
When to seek urgent medical care?
It is a medical emergency. Any patients presenting with high clinical suspicion should be given immediate treatment.
Diagnosis
The diagnosis of microangiopathic hemolytic anemia is made by carrying out blood tests and visualizing schistocytes on peripheral blood smear. The blood tests show:
- Anemia
- Elevated lactate dehydrogenase
- Raised bilirubin
- Thrombocytopenia
- Deranged liver and renal function tests
Treatment
The treatment of choice is Plasma exchange. Other treatment option include
- Large volume plasma infusion
- Infusion of fresh frozen plasma
- Folate supplementation
- Anti-platelet therapy
- Corticosteroids
Possible complications
Acute renal failure, intracranial hemorrhage and myocardial infarction are the possible complications.
References
Want to know more?
A more detailed clinical article for the same condition is available from WikiDoc. It is written for medical professionals and uses technical language.