[Congenital stomatocytosis associated with aplastic anemia]

A seven year-old boy with hereditary stomatocytosis complicated with aplastic anemia was reported. He was admitted to our hospital because of pale and general fatigue. On physical examination, he had severe anemia, petechiae, but no hepatosplenomegaly. Peripheral blood cell count revealed pancytopenia; RBC 103 X 10(4)/microliters, Hb 3.5 g/dl, Ret 21%, WBC 1,200/microliters, Pl 1.3 X 10(4)/microliters, and bone marrow revealed markedly hypocellular marrow. Red cell morphology demonstrated stomatocytosis. Red cell life span (51Cr T1/2) was 12 days, Coombs' test and Ham's test were negative. Indirect bilirubin was 1.1 mg/dl and marked decrease of haptoglobin was found. Family studies showed that his father and sister had stomatocytosis on peripheral blood examination, but no anemia. The patient had severe anemia because of complicated aplastic anemia. Congenital stomatocytosis with aplastic anemia is extremely rare. The authors are interested in a possible relationship between hereditary stomatocytosis and aplastic anemia although the precise mechanism remains to be elucidated.