PULMONARY HYPERTENSION IN CHILDREN WITH EVANS SYNDROME

Abstract

Evans syndrome is a rare cause of hemolysis in pediatric patients. The authors describe two severely affected patients who had previously been heavily treated, and who subsequently developed severe pulmonary hypertension. Both patients were successfully managed by a combination of immunosuppression and anti-pulmonary hypertension treatment. The first patient to present, case A, received an allogeneic bone marrow transplant with subsequent cure of both Evans syndrome and pulmonary hypertension and is now on a weaning dose of sildenafil. Case B is being worked up for allogeneic bone marrow transplantation. The authors speculate that the pulmonary hypertension was caused by the underlying immune dysregulation and hemolysis and that Evans syndrome joins the list of other hemolytic anemias that cause pulmonary hypertension, such as sickle cell disease, thalassemia, and paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria. However, they suggest a vasculitic process as the main cause.

Keywords:

• Haemolytic anaemia
• pulmonary hypertension
• immunosuppression
• stem cell transplantation