| congenital nonregenerative anaemia | Congenital nonregenerative, familial hypoplastic, or pure red cell anaemia; erythrogenesis imperfecta; Diamond-Blackfan syndrome; autosomal recessive normocytic normochromic anaemia resulting from congenital hypoplasia of the bone marrow, which is grossly deficient in erythroid precursors while other elements are normal; anaemia is progressive and severe, but leukocyte and platelet counts are normal or slightly reduced; survival of transfused erythrocytes is normal; minor congenital anomalies are found in some patients. Synonym: congenital nonregenerative anaemia, Diamond-Blackfan anaemia, Diamond-Blackfan syndrome, erythrogenesis imperfecta, familial hypoplastic anaemia, pure red cell anaemia. (05 Mar 2000) |
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| congenital spherocytic anaemia | <haematology> A hereditary disorder that leads to a chronic haemolytic anaemia due to an abnormality in the red blood cell membrane. This disorder is caused by a defective gene. Red cells are resistant to stress and rupture easily. Infants may appear jaundiced and pale. Fatigue, weakness and shortness of breath are other symptoms that may be seen in older patients. The spleen may also be enlarged. Treatment includes splenectomy (removal of the spleen). After this is accomplished the life-span of the red blood cells returns to normal. Origin: Gr. Haima = blood (27 Sep 1997) |
| Cooley's anaemia | <haematology> A genetic disease that results when there is a defect in the synthesis of one (or more) of the subunits of haemoglobin. The subunits are referred to as alpha or beta globin chains. As a result of a genetic defect red blood cells are small and hypochromic (low haemoglobin in the cell). Anaemia is common. Incidence is approximately 4 out of 100,000 individuals. Genetic testing is recommended in pregnant females of Mediterranean descent for the purpose of identifying carriers of this potentially serious genetic disease. Origin: Gr. Haima = blood (27 Sep 1997) |
| polar anaemia | A form of anaemia sometimes observed in natives of temperate climates when they migrate to the Arctic or Antarctic regions. (05 Mar 2000) |
| myelopathic anaemia | <haematology> Any anaemia condition which arises from a space occupying lesion in the bone marrow. The circulating blood contains immature cells of the granulocytic series and nucleated red blood cells, frequently in numbers that are disproportionately large in relation to the degree of anaemia. Origin: Gr. Haima = blood (27 Sep 1997) |
| myelophthisic anaemia | <haematology> Any anaemia condition which arises from a space occupying lesion in the bone marrow. The circulating blood contains immature cells of the granulocytic series and nucleated red blood cells, frequently in numbers that are disproportionately large in relation to the degree of anaemia. Origin: Gr. Haima = blood (27 Sep 1997) |
| cow milk anaemia | Anaemia occurring in infants fed cow milk without iron supplementation, attributed to digestive tract allergic reaction leading to blood loss and hence iron deficiency. (05 Mar 2000) |
| crescent cell anaemia | <haematology> Disease common in races of people from areas in which malaria is endemic. The cause is a point mutation in the allele that codes for the beta chain of haemoglobin with a substitution of (valine for glutamic acid at position 6. The defective haemoglobin (HbS) crystallizes readily at low oxygen tension. In consequence, erythrocytes from homozygotes change from the normal discoid shape to a sickled shape when the oxygen tension is low and these sickled cells become trapped in capillaries or damaged in transit, leading to severe anaemia. In heterozygotes, the disadvantages of the abnormal haemoglobin are apparently outweighed by increased resistance to Plasmodium falciparum malaria, probably because parasitised cells tend to sickle and are then removed from circulation. Symptoms include joint pain, acute abdominal pain, and ulcerations of the lower extremities. Origin: Gr. Haima = blood (18 Nov 1997) |
| posthemorrhagic anaemia | An acute anaemia caused by fairly sudden and rapid loss of blood, as by traumatic laceration of a relatively large vessel, erosion of an artery in a duodenal ulcer, haemorrhage in an ectopic pregnancy, or the result of such diseases as haemophilia and acute leukaemia. Synonym: traumatic anaemia. (05 Mar 2000) |
| haemolytic anaemia | <disease, haematology> Anaemia resulting from reduced red cell survival time and haemolysis, either due to an intrinsic defect in the erythrocyte (hereditary spherocytosis or ellipsocytosis, enzyme defects, haemoglobinopathy) or an extrinsic damaging agent. For example autoantibody (autoimmune haemolytic anaemia), iso antibody, parasitic invasion of the cells (malaria), bacterial or chemical haemolysins, mechanical damage to erythrocytes. Origin: Gr. Haima = blood (18 Nov 1997) |
| haemolytic anaemia of newborn | <haematology> A condition which develops in the foetus due to an incompatibility between the mother's blood type (RH factor) and the baby's. Maternal antibodies, which enter the foetal circulation during delivery attack the baby's red blood cells leading to haemolysis (rupture of the cells). Symptoms include an infant with an enlarged liver and spleen, swelling, jaundice and anaemia. (27 Sep 1997) |
| haemorrhagic anaemia | Anaemia resulting directly from loss of blood. (05 Mar 2000) |
| primary erythroblastic anaemia | The dire disease also known as beta thalassaemia. The clinical picture of this form of anaemia was first described in 1925 by the paediatrician thomas benton cooley. Other names for the disease are cooley's anaemia and mediterranean anaemia. The term thalassaemia was coined by the nobel prise winning pathologist george whipple and the professor of paediatrics william bradford at u. Of rochester because thalassa in greek means the sea (like the mediterrranean sea) + -aemia means in the blood so thalassaemia means sea in the blood. Thalassaemia is not just one disease. It is a complex contingent of genetic (inherited) disorders all of which involve underproduction of haemoglobin, the indispensable molecule in red blood cells that carries oxygen. The globin part of normal adult haemoglobin is made up of 2 alpha and 2 beta polypeptide chains. In beta thalassaemia, there is a mutation (change) in both beta globin chains leading to underproduction (or absence) of beta chains, underproduction of haemoglobin, and profound anaemia. The gene for beta thalassaemia is relatively frequent in people of mediterranean origin (for example, from italy and greece). Children with this disease inherit one gene for it from each parent (and so are said to be homozygous for beta thalassaemia). The parents are carriers (heterozygotes) with just one thalassaemia gene, are said to have thalassaemia minor, and are essentially normal. Their children affected with beta thalassaemia seem entirely normal at birth (because at birth we still have predominantly foetal haemoglobin which does not contain beta chains) but the anaemia emerges in the first few months of life and becomes progressively more severe leading to pallor and easy fatiguability, failure to thrive (grow), bouts of fever (due to infections) and diarrhoea. Treatment based on blood transfusions is helpful but not curative. Gene therapy will, it is hoped, be applicable to this disease. (12 Dec 1998) |
| primary refractory anaemia | Any of a group of anaemic conditions in which there is persistent, frequently advanced anaemia that is not successfully treated by any means except blood transfusions, and that is not associated with another primary disease. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Heinz body anaemia | A congenital haemolytic anaemia, due to autosomal inheritance of one of many unstable haemoglobins. The anaemia is of variable severity and characterised by the presence in vivo or in vitro of Heinz bodies. (05 Mar 2000) |