Autoimmune hemolytic anemia in chronic hepatitis C virus infection: an unusual extrahepatic autoimmune manifestation.
We report a case of Coombs positive autoimmune hemolytic anemia occurring in a patient with chronic hepatitis C, never treated with interferon-alpha. Prednisone treatment induced the complete remission of both clinical and hematological findings after 2 months. The indirect Coombs test turned negative, while the direct Coombs test remained weakly positive. Autoimmune hemolytic anemia during chronic hepatitis C has been reported to develop only after or simultaneously with interferon-alpha therapy. After discarding other possible causes such as drugs, infectious, neoplastic, lymphoproliferative diseases, and essential mixed cryoglobulinemia, we made the hypothesis of a correlation between autoimmune hemolytic anemia and hepatitis C virus infection.
Moccia
F
F
II Divisione di Medicina Generale, Azienda Ospedaliera, Ospedale S. Martino e Cliniche Universitarie Convenzionate di Genova.
Tognoni
E
E
Boccaccio
P
P
D000368:Aged; D000744:Anemia, Hemolytic, Autoimmune / Q000276:immunology*; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000150:complications*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male