title: Autoimmune haemolytic anaemia, immune thrombocytopenia, and leucopenia. An unusual presentation of Hodgkin's disease.
abstract: We report an unusual case of nodular sclerosing Hodgkin's Disease in a 17-year-old woman presenting with intermittent fever, progressive weight loss and enlarged cervical and axillary lymph nodes. Laboratory tests revealed severe Coombs' positive haemolytic anaemia, and progressive thrombocytopenia and leucopenia, associated with erythroid, myeloid and megakaryocytic hyperplasia, but with no evidence of lymphomatous infiltration in the bone marrow. Transfusion of compatible blood became possible only after prednisone therapy and a single intravenous dose of vincristine. Appropriate chemotherapy led to normalization of the peripheral blood counts and a negative direct Coombs' test.
authors.affiliation: Sub-department of Hematology, University of the West Indies, Jamaica.
authors.forename: D C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Brady-West
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Thame
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: West
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000744:Anemia, Hemolytic, Autoimmune / Q000209:etiology*; D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006689:Hodgkin Disease / Q000150:complications*; D006801:Humans; D007970:Leukopenia / Q000209:etiology*; D013921:Thrombocytopenia / Q000209:etiology*