Spontaneous Partial Remission of Postoperative Hemolytic Anemia in a Case with Ostium Primum Defect

Schwere mechanische Hämolyse nach Korrektur eines partiellen atrioventrikulären Kanals

“…In Einzelfälle ist in der Literatur über hochgradige mechanische Hämolysen nach Verwendung von Kunststoffgewebestücken zum intrakardialen Septumdefektverschluß berichtet worden (3,9,11,12,13,14,17).…”

Intravascular Hemolytic Syndrome Following Aortic Valve Replacement

“…More specifically, this syndrome has occurred in association with defective intracardiac prosthetic implants, both interatrial patch grafts [1][2][3][4][5][6][7] and valve prostheses. [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] Of the 15 patients with well-documented "traumatic" hemolytic anemia following aortic valve replacement, only two instances of complete hematologic recovery have been noted, both of which attended replacement of the defective prosthesis.8 Excluding five deaths, the remaining eight patients all showed evidence of persistent hemolytic anemia or a compensated hemolytic state, ie, reticulocytosis, red blood cell (RBC) fragmentation, and a shortened RBC life span (Table).…”

Editorial

“…The effects on iron metabolism were extensively analyzed by Sigler and associates 2 and are also discussed in the current issue of this journal. 4 The role of iron therapy in the milder cases is of considerable interest: in Sigler's case 3 and in Sanyal's case,4 iron plus some degree of spontaneous remission has made it possible to avoid the serious hazards of reoperation. Zinkham,5 however, has pointed out that "Even though iron therapy might keep the anemia at a so-called tolerable level, hemolysis would continue and the amount of hemosiderin deposited in the kidneys would increase so that the patient might develop irreversible renal damage.…”