Anti-thymocyte globulin (ATG) provides effective therapy for many patients with aplastic anemia, and its mechanism of action has been presumed to be secondary to lymphocytotoxicity. However, our studies of lymphocyte function in aplastic anemia show marked abnormalities of lymphokine production, which ATG may modulate. In 12 of 17 patients with aplastic anemia, interleukin 2 (IL2) production wa...

Aplastic anemia is a fatal bone marrow disorder characterized by peripheral pancytopenia and marrow hypoplasia. The disease can be hereditary or acquired and develops at any stage of life. A subgroup of the inherited form is caused by replicative impairment of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells due to very short telomeres as a result of mutations in telomerase and other telomere components...

Fulminant hepatic failure of unknown origin is the most common cause of fulminant hepatitis with high incidence of aplastic anaemia. Furthermore, the association of liver failure and aplastic anaemia has an increased mortality rate. In this report we describe a 16-month-old boy who presented with aplastic anaemia preceding a non-A, non-B, non-C fulminant liver failure. He developed severe graft...

Aplastic anemia is associated with quantitative and functional abnormalities in the hematopoietic stem cell compartment. Currently, one of the most primitive human hematopoietic progenitor cells that can be functionally assayed in vitro is the long-term culture-initiating cell (LTC-IC). This assay identifies primitive cells that are capable of producing colonies after five weeks of long-term cu...

Littoral cell angioma (LCA) is a rare benign tumour of the spleen. We describe a patient with aplastic anaemia who, following multiple treatments with rabbit and horse Anti-Thymocyte Globulin and anabolic steroids developed marked splenomegaly and hypersplenism. LCA was diagnosed post splenectomy. This is the first case of LCA associated with aplastic anaemia and its treatment.

Parvovirus B19 involvement was investigated in 30 children with severe aplastic anaemia. Active or recent parvovirus B19 infection, as shown by B19 DNA viraemia, positive B19 specific IgM antibodies, or both, was diagnosed in six patients. There were no other plausible causes. We suggest that parvovirus B19 infection might be associated with severe aplastic anaemia.

The incidence of aplastic anemia was estimated in a 4-year study conducted in Israel and seven areas in Europe. Strict definition criteria were used. and all data and bone marrow specimens were reviewed by a panel of experienced hematologists. Complete ascertainment of cases was attempted by establishing a telephone network including all relevant hospitals in the study areas. The incidence of a...

9. Zhang F, Zhang L, Jing L, et al. High-dose cyclophosphamide compared with antithymocyte globulin for treatment of acquired severe aplastic anemia. Exp Hematol. 2013;41(4):328-334. 10. Bhatnagar N, Wynn R, Velangi M, et al. Upfront matched and mismatched unrelated transplantation in paediatric aplastic anemia: a United Kingdom multicenter retrospective experience. In: BMT ed. EBMT annual meet...

The incidence of aplastic anemia was estimated in a 4-year study conducted in Israel and seven areas in Europe. Strict definition criteria were used. and all data and bone marrow specimens were reviewed by a panel of experienced hematologists. Complete ascertainment of cases was attempted by establishing a telephone network including all relevant hospitals in the study areas. The incidence of a...

Andrea Bacigalupo has recently published very useful guidelines for the treatment of severe aplastic anemia. As in the most recent and authoritative monograph on this condition, «the empty bone marrow and its devastating consequences for the patient have rightly fascinated hematologists for a century». The term itself is somewhat of a misnomer since the disease consists of a hypo-aplastic pancy...