PMID- 27382552
OWN - NLM
STAT- PubMed-not-MEDLINE
DCOM- 20160706
LR  - 20201001
IS  - 2287-979X (Print)
IS  - 2288-0011 (Electronic)
IS  - 2287-979X (Linking)
VI  - 51
IP  - 2
DP  - 2016 Jun
TI  - Clinical characteristics and treatment outcomes of primary autoimmune hemolytic 
      anemia: a single center study from South India.
PG  - 88-94
LID - 10.5045/br.2016.51.2.88 [doi]
AB  - BACKGROUND: Autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA) is a less recognized, potentially 
      fatal condition. There is a scarcity of data on clinicoserological 
      characteristics and response to therapy concerning this disease from South India. 
      METHODS: Data for 33 patients with primary AIHA recorded from July 2009 to June 
      2015 were retrospectively analyzed for clinical presentation, response to 
      frontline therapy, durability of response, time to next treatment (TTNT), and 
      response to second-line agents. RESULTS: The median follow-up period was 50 
      months. Among 33 patients, 48% of the cases were warm autoimmune hemolytic anemia 
      (WAIHA), 46% were cold agglutinin disease (CAD), and 6% were atypical. 
      Three-fourth of patients had severe anemia (<8 g/dL hemoglobin [Hb]) at onset; 
      younger patients (age <40 yr) had more severe anemia. All of the patients who 
      required treatment received oral prednisolone at 1.5 mg/kg/d as a frontline 
      therapy, and the response rate was 90% (62% complete response [CR] and 28% 
      partial response [PR]). The overall response to corticosteroids in WAIHA and CAD 
      was 87% and 92%, respectively. The median corticosteroid duration was 14 months, 
      and 50% of the patients required second-line agents. Fourteen patients received 
      azathioprine as a second-line agent, and 11 of these patients responded well, 
      with half of them not requiring a third agent. Four patients developed severe 
      infections (pneumonia, sepsis, and soft tissue abscess) and two had 
      life-threatening venous thrombosis. One case of death was recorded. CONCLUSION: 
      AIHA is a heterogeneous disease that requires care by physicians experienced in 
      treating these patients.
FAU - Prabhu, Raghuveer
AU  - Prabhu R
AD  - Department of Medical Oncology and Hematology, Amrita Institute of Medical 
      Sciences, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University, Kochi, India.
FAU - Bhaskaran, Renjitha
AU  - Bhaskaran R
AD  - Department of Medical Oncology and Hematology, Amrita Institute of Medical 
      Sciences, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University, Kochi, India.
FAU - Shenoy, Veena
AU  - Shenoy V
AD  - Department of Medical Oncology and Hematology, Amrita Institute of Medical 
      Sciences, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University, Kochi, India.
FAU - G, Rema
AU  - G R
AD  - Department of Medical Oncology and Hematology, Amrita Institute of Medical 
      Sciences, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University, Kochi, India.
FAU - Sidharthan, Neeraj
AU  - Sidharthan N
AD  - Department of Medical Oncology and Hematology, Amrita Institute of Medical 
      Sciences, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University, Kochi, India.
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
DEP - 20160623
PL  - Switzerland
TA  - Blood Res
JT  - Blood research
JID - 101605247
PMC - PMC4931942
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - Autoimmune hemolytic anemia
OT  - Azathioprine
OT  - Cold agglutinin disease
OT  - Corticosteroids
OT  - Warm autoimmune hemolytic anemia
COIS- Authors' Disclosures of Potential Conflicts of Interest: No potential conflicts 
      of interest relevant to this article were reported.
EDAT- 2016/07/07 06:00
MHDA- 2016/07/07 06:01
PMCR- 2016/06/01
CRDT- 2016/07/07 06:00
PHST- 2016/03/11 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2016/05/11 00:00 [revised]
PHST- 2016/05/24 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2016/07/07 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2016/07/07 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2016/07/07 06:01 [medline]
PHST- 2016/06/01 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - 10.5045/br.2016.51.2.88 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Blood Res. 2016 Jun;51(2):88-94. doi: 10.5045/br.2016.51.2.88. Epub 2016 Jun 23.