Case report: A patient with primary biliary cirrhosis and autoimmune haemolytic anaemia

Abstract

Diseases of an autoimmune nature are well recognized in association with primary biliary cirrhosis. Although autoimmune thyroiditis and many rheumatological conditions are well described in primary biliary cirrhosis, autoimmune haematological diseases have been less well reported. We report on a 66 year old North American Indian man with coincident primary biliary cirrhosis and warm antibody haemolytic anaemia. This case report supports the suggestion of an association between autoimmune haemolytic anaemia and primary biliary cirrhosis.

Multiple Autoimmune Propensity and B-Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma: Cause or Effect?

“…This frequent and close association makes the exclusion of lymphoproliferative disorders essential when AIHA is diagnosed [1, 5–7]. On the contrary, one of the many extrahepatic autoimmune manifestations that PBC has been linked to is AIHA, mainly in case reports [30–32]. …”

A patient with primary biliary cirrhosis associated with autoimmune hemolytic anemia

“…16 Although the association between various immunologic disorders and PBC has gradually been gaining recognition, only ten cases of PBC associated with AIHA have been reported. [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26] AIHA is characterized by a positive direct Coombs' test and is classified as 'warm' or 'cold' type, according to whether the antibody reacts better with red cells at 37°C or at 4°C. Warm antibody hemolytic anemia is idiopathic (primary) in approximately 50% of cases or secondary to medication (eg, methyldopa, quinidine, penicillin), hematological malignancies (chronic lymphocytic leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma), and rheumatological disorders (such as SLE or RA).…”

Primary biliary cholangitis associated with warm autoimmune hemolytic anemia

“…The association between PBC and warm autoimmune hemolytic anemia (wAIHA) is quite rare. To our knowledge, only 20 case reports have been described in the literature . Here we reported a case of PBC‐associated wAIHA.…”