Haemolytic anaemia in Indian childhood cirrhosis.

Perkash, A., Nair, A., Bhorchi, R., and Walia, B. N. S. (1971). Archives of Disease in Childhood, 46, 45. Haemolytic anaemia in Indian childhood cirrhosis. Fifty-five patients with Indian childhood cirrhosis were investigated for the occurrence of haemolysis and for its possible underlying mechanisms. Increased haemolysis was present in 76°/o of patients, and was severe in 12%. The degree of anaemia was not always proportional to the severity of haemolysis. No single factor accounted for haemolysis. Evidence of hypersplenism was present in only 7 (13%) patients. The haemolysis appeared to be more severe in patients with advanced liver disease. Evidence for autoimmune haemolytic anaemia was found in 27% of patients. No relation was seen between the degree of haemolysis and hypercholesterolaemia. These findings are compared with those reported in adult patients with cirrhosis of the liver.