RESUMO
Five patients with hereditary spherocytosis diagnosed in their seventh to ninth decades of life are presented. These patients are remarkable for absent or mild clinical manifestations of disease. Splenectomy is the recommended treatment for hereditary spherocytosis to avoid the complications of aplastic or hemolytic crisis. When the diagnosis is made in the elderly, the treatment of choice may be careful observation with folic acid supplementation rather than splenectomy. This recommendation is based on the incidence of complications of splenectomy in the elderly in comparison to the severity and incidence of complications from the disease itself.
Assuntos
Esferocitose Hereditária , Fatores Etários , Idoso , Idoso de 80 Anos ou mais , Feminino , Ácido Fólico/uso terapêutico , Humanos , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Esferocitose Hereditária/diagnóstico , Esferocitose Hereditária/tratamento farmacológicoRESUMO
A case report of a healthy 33-year-old man with Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia who concomitantly had the acquired Pelger-Huet anomaly develop is presented. Up to 31% of his total white blood cell count was comprised of Pelger-Huet cells at the height of his clinical illness. The Pelger-Huet cell count returned to 0% after doxycycline therapy and resolution of the pneumonia. No other explanation for the Pelger-Huet anomaly could be determined. A review of the pertinent hematologic literature is included.
