Autoimmune hemolytic anemia (patient information)

Autoimmune hemolytic anemia
Overview
What are the symptoms?
What are the causes?
When to seek urgent medical care?
Diagnosis
Treatment options
Where to find medical care for Autoimmune hemolytic anemia?
What to expect (Outlook/Prognosis)?
Possible complications
Prevention
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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]

Overview

Autoimmune hemolytic anemia occurs when antibodies form against the body's own red blood cells and destroy them. This happens because the immune system mistakenly recognizes these blood cells as foreign.

What causes Autoimmune hemolytic anemia?

Possible causes include:

• Certain chemicals, drugs, and toxins
• Infections
• Transfusion of blood from a donor with a blood type that does not match
• Certain cancers

When antibodies form against red blood cells for no reason, the condition is called idiopathic autoimmune hemolytic anemia.

The antibodies may also be caused by:

• Complication of another disease
• Past blood transfusions
• Pregnancy (if the baby's blood type is different from the mother's)

Risk factors are related to the causes.

Source

https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000586.htm