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Surviving Extreme Anaemia
Joana M Esteves1, Joana Fernandes2, Pedro Oliveira Monteiro3
1Internal Medicine Department, Hospital Santa Maria Maior, Barcelos, Portugal.
Before the development of transfusion medicine, severe anaemia was an important cause of morbidity and mortality. The discovery of haematopoietic mechanisms and essential nutrients made it possible to easily treat and prevent this condition. Nevertheless, it is often fatal in patients presenting with extreme anaemia (haemoglobin levels <2 g/dl). We report the rare case of a 54-year-old woman who presented with profound megaloblastic anaemia (haemoglobin of 1.7 g/dl) due to vitamin B12 deficiency, and was successfully treated.
Before the development of transfusion medicine, severe anaemia was an important cause of morbidity and mortality. The discovery of haematopoietic mechanisms and essential nutrients made it possible to easily treat and prevent this condition. Nevertheless, it is often fatal in patients presenting with extreme anaemia (haemoglobin levels <2 g/dl). We report the rare case of a 54-year-old woman who presented with profound megaloblastic anaemia (haemoglobin of 1.7 g/dl) due to vitamin B12 deficiency, and was successfully treated.
Learning Points:
The discovery of vitamin B12 in the 20th century led to the successful and easy treatment of thousands of patients with anaemia.Focus on patient adherence to treatment and medical advice is essential in order to manage chronic conditions such as post-gastrectomy nutritional deficiencies.Extreme anaemia is very rare and associated with high mortality; treatment should be tailored to acute or chronic anaemia and in cases where haemodynamic stability is guaranteed, a restrictive blood transfusion strategy should be considered to reduce the risk of complications.
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