The presence of a thymic tumour in a patient with red cell aplasia was first described by Humphreys and Southworth in 1945. After excision of this tumour the anaemia' was cured in this-patient. A second case was then recorded by Barquet Chediak, Fuste, and Vaizquez Rosales (1953) and again excision was followed by a cure of the anaemia. Fourteen further cases of excision of thymic tumours in pa...

Thirty-seven patients with pure red cell aplasia (PRCA) were seen between 1 966 and 1 982. Ten patients had accompanying diseases described in association with PRCA, while the remainder had primary PACA. All but two patients were treated with some form of immune manipulation. including corticosteroids. cytotoxic drugs. antithymocyte globulin. splenectomy. thymectomy. and plasmapheresis. Twenty-...

A 61-year-old woman with metastatic renal cell carcinoma underwent systemic treatment with high-dose interleukin-2 (IL-2). Anemia requiring transfusion of 1 unit of packed red blood cells (PRBCs) was required during the second week of IL-2 therapy. One month following completion of high-dose IL-2 treatment, she was hospitalized for severe, symptomatic anemia and received 5 units of PRBCs. She w...

Diphenylhydantoin (DPH) therapy, often used in treating epileptic seizures, can cause anemia in some patients. A 26-year-old female suffered from convulsions due to encephalitis and was placed on DPH therapy. About two months after the initiation of DPH therapy, her hemoglobin level was 3.8 g/dL. Her anemia improved after the discontinuation of DPH, confirming that the anemia was caused by DPH....

During the first 10 yr of therapy with recombinant human erythropoietin ([EPO]), only three cases of antibody-associated pure red cell aplasia have been described in patients who were treated with EPO, whereas several millions of patients have received this treatment. Thus, the possibility for epoetin to induce the formation of anti-EPO antibodies was considered extremely low. However, since 19...

An 1 8-yr-old female with chronic active The patient’s plasma was cytotoxic for hepatitis developed a severe anemia due erythroblasts. Following splenectomy, a to a lack of red cell production. Her bane remission of the disease occurred. This marrow showed many large proerythrostudy indicates that in some cases the blasts but an almost complete lack of more anemia associated with abundant marro...

Rituximab is a chimeric monoclonal antibody directed against CD20 and used in the treatment of B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Due to its ability to deplete B lymphocytes, rituximab can interfere with humoral immunity, causing it to be suppressed for several months after treatment. The reported case depicts a serious consequence of this effect of rituximab therapy: pure red cell aplasia resultin...

A 40 year old woman with rheumatoid arthritis developed pure red cell aplasia after treatment with D-penicillamine 500 mg/day. D-Penicillamine was stopped and short term treatment with steroids resulted in complete recovery of bone marrow.

Sir, In patients treated with recombinant human erythropoietin for anaemia of chronic renal failure, pure red-cell aplasia Fig 1. Time course of haemoglobin values and epoetin dose in a patient with anti-erythropoietin antibody induced PRCA.