Korean J Clin Pharm.  2015 Sep;25(3):166-170. 10.0000/kjcp.2015.25.3.166.

Retrospective Clinical Analysis of Treatment for Primary Warm Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia

• Moon HS
• Park C

• KMID: 2226408
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.0000/kjcp.2015.25.3.166

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Primary warm autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA) is a relatively rare hematologic disorder resulting from autoantibody production against red blood cells. There has been very few studies about primary warm AIHA in South Korea because of its low incidence. We retrospectively analyzed the treatment outcome of primary warm AIHA. METHOD: We reviewed retrospectively the medical records of 9 primary warm AIHA patients from December 2002 to January 2015. We analyzed the causes and clinical characteristics of primary warm AIHA patients. We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data in electronic medical records for 9 Korean patients with AIHA patients who were diagnosed during the period from December 2002 to January 2015 at the Regional University Hospital in Korea. The study protocol was approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB #2015-08-007, Chosun University Hospital IRB).
RESULTS
The mean age was 52 years (range 27~78), the mean hemoglobin level was 5.0 g/dL (range 2.5~6.4 g/dL). All patients received steroids at therapeutic dosages (corticosteroid 1 mg/Kg) as first line treatment. Eight of them showed complete response (5/8, 62.5%) and partial response (3/8, 37.5%), one patient required second-line treatment with rituximab. Two patients who responded first line treatment were relapsed at 86 weeks and 24 weeks after response, respectively. Only one patient of them was retreated with corticosteroid because of anemic symptoms.
CONCLUSION
This study indicates that oral corticosteroid is an effective therapy for primary warm AIHA.

Keyword

warm; autoimmune hemolytic anemia; corticosteroids; rituximab

MeSH Terms

Adrenal Cortex Hormones
Anemia, Hemolytic, Autoimmune*
Electronic Health Records
Erythrocytes
Ethics Committees, Research
Humans
Incidence
Korea
Medical Records
Retrospective Studies*
Steroids
Treatment Outcome
Rituximab
Adrenal Cortex Hormones
Steroids