Hemolytic Anemia | Symtoms and Diagnosis
Symptoms
Symptoms vary widely. In people with mild forms of hemolytic anemia such as thalassemia minor red blood cell levels may fall but not enough to cause symptoms of anemia. In these patients, the condition may be discovered only when routine tests show anemia or red blood cells are abnormally shaped.
In others, they may develop obvious symptoms of anemia, including:
- pale skin
- fatigue
- weakness
- vertigo
- dizziness
- shortness of breath
- jaundice (a yellowing of the skin and eyes)
- urine dark tea-colored
Diagnosis
The doctor will review your medical history and ask you to describe your symptoms. Other questions might include:
- Familares have close relatives with sickle cell anemia, thalassemia, pyruvate kinase deficiency, glucose-6-phosphate or other forms of inherited anemia
- What medications you take? (Include all medications taken in recent months)
- Recently had a serious infection, especially mononucleosis or pneumonia
- It has an artificial heart valve, synthetic graft blood vessels or other implants or prostheses
- They have other medical problems, especially autoimmune diseases like lupus
During the physical examination, the doctor will look for signs of anemia (fingernails and pale skin, rapid pulse and heart murmur) and liver and spleen, which can occur when there is anemia. After this examination will be blood tests to measure levels of red blood cells, control the size and shape of red blood cells, hemoglobin measure and determine the number of reticulocytes. Reticulocytes are immature red blood cells leave the bone marrow because the marrow soon released new red blood cells quickly to try to recover from anemia. Your doctor may also order tests for blood in your stool and blood tests for anemia due to iron deficiency in certain vitamins in your diet.
According to the suspected cause of hemolytic anemia, other tests may include:
- Coombs test: This test detects hemolytic anemia caused by an abnormal immune reaction.
- Levels of G6PD: This blood test detects deficiencies in this enzyme.
- Hemoglobin electrophoresis: This blood test detects abnormal hemoglobin.
- Haptoglobin: the levels of this protein in the blood are low in people with hemolytic anemia.
- Lactic acid dehydrogenase (LDH) and bilirubin: the results of blood tests are often abnormally high in people with hemolytic anemia.