Treatment of Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia
Section snippets
Corticosteroids
For warm AIHA, corticosteroids are the initial therapy of choice and the mainstay of therapy (Table 2). Many hematologists use a standard approach in adults, consisting of an initial course of prednisone, 60 to 100 mg per day for 1 to 3 weeks. There should be some evidence of clinical improvement within several days to 1 week. Approximately 80% of patients have a good initial response to corticosteroid therapy.3 After stabilization of hematologic parameters or the elimination of the requirement
Serologic Difficulties in AIHA
Transfusion therapy can be complicated in AIHA due to serologic complexities (Table 3). Although AIHA may present with an ABO and/or Rh typing discrepancy, accurate blood group identification usually can be determined without specialized techniques. In an emergency or if ABO results are not clear, group O donor RBCs are employed. Since the panagglutinin in the patient’s serum typically reacts with all donor RBCs, cross-matching blood may be a difficult and time-consuming process.
Patients with
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Cited by (91)
Updates in the Management of Warm Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia
2022, Hematology/Oncology Clinics of North AmericaCitation Excerpt :Fig. 2 provides a treatment algorithm for wAIHA. Glucocorticoids are the cornerstone of pharmacologic treatment of wAIHA, with mechanisms including decreased antibody production, suppression of phagocytosis by macrophages, and decreased autoantibody affinity to RBCs.78 Still, there is limited evidence driving optimal dosing and taper schedule.39,71
Red Blood Cell Disorders: Perioperative Considerations for Patients Undergoing Cardiac Surgery
2019, Journal of Cardiothoracic and Vascular AnesthesiaCitation Excerpt :Autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA) has an incidence of 1 to 3:100,000; it results from the reaction of antibodies with antigens on RBCs and can be divided into 2 types: warm and cold AIHA. 61 Warm AIHA involves the presence of IgG warm agglutinins (ie, autoantibodies) that are active at normal body temperature and develop from a variety of causes, including autoimmune, idiopathic, medications, malignancies, postinfection, post-transplantation, or after allogeneic blood transfusion.61,62 IgG-bound RBCs are destroyed by hemolysis or phagocytosis.
Principles of Red Blood Cell Transfusion
2018, Hematology: Basic Principles and PracticeAutoimmune Hemolytic Anemia
2018, Hematology: Basic Principles and PracticeAutoimmune Hemolytic Anemia
2017, Hematology: Basic Principles and PracticePrinciples of Red Blood Cell Transfusion
2017, Hematology: Basic Principles and Practice