Teardrop-shaped red cells in autoimmune hemolytic anemia

✍ Scribed by Deborah L. Farolino; Pradip K. Rustagi; Mark S. Currie; Thomas D. Doeblin; Gerald L. Logue

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1986
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 261 KB
• Volume: 21
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0361-8609
• DOI: 10.1002/ajh.2830210410

✦ Synopsis

The presence of teardrop-shaped red cells in peripheral blood has traditionally been felt to reflect altered marrow architecture, namely myelofibrosis. We evaluated two patients with splenomegaly, moderately severe hemolytic anemia due to warm-reactive IgG anti-red cell autoantibody, and bone marrow erythroid hyperplasia without myelofibrosis. A striking predominance of teardrop-shaped red cells was noted upon examination of their blood films. Removal of a spleen containing extramedullary hematopoiesis in one and resolution of splenomegaly in the other were accompanied by disappearance of these cells. Our observations support a role for the spleen and for extramedullary hematopoiesis in the pathogenesis of this distinctive red cell morphologic abnormality.