Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia (AIHA): Overview of Immune Hemolytic Anemias

00:01 Students often have a hard time with autoimmune hemolytic anemia only because they haven’t spent enough time with dealing with the immunology of couple of these immunoglobulins that we’ll take a look at.

00:12 So let’s, once and for all, bring absolute clarity to autoimmune hemolytic anemia.

00:20 To begin with, immune hemolytic anemia, same thing.

00:24 What’s going to end up happening here is that with IHA (immune hemolytic anemia) -- Well, there are 2 different types that we’ll take a look at.

00:33 Agglutination of RBCs in cold types is -- Well, by looking at this picture, it's rather difficult for you to figure out immediately.

00:42 However, with enough history, say the patient is suffering from mycoplasma pneumonia and then we will talk more about how the patient is developing cold.

00:51 So when we do immune hemolytic anemia, autoimmune hemolytic anemia, there are two types.

00:57 One will be warm, the other one will be cold.

01:00 And apart from that, most importantly, you need to figure out as to how to differentiate between the two, its associations.

01:08 The last time, we even brought up anything dealing with the immune hemolytic anemia was actually a differential of hereditary spherocytosis.

01:17 Do you remember that? Why did I bring anything up there? Well, do you remember what a hereditary spherocytic type of RBC looks like? A spherocyte.

01:26 do you remember the differential that I had given you? Good.

01:29 Warm type of autoimmune hemolytic anemia which we haven’t look at yet, but we shall.

01:36 And in hereditary spherocytosis, what was the test that we conducted in which it ruled out warm type of autoimmune hemolytic anemia? Good.

01:46 Coombs test.

01:48 Coombs test is negative, hereditary spherocytosis.

01:51 Coombs test is positive, you’re looking in the realm of autoimmune hemolytic anemia and that would be warm though.