Understanding haemolytic anaemia

Understanding haemolytic anaemia means understanding the pathophysiology of accelerated red blood cell (RBC) lysis. Clinicians need to be aware of the different types of haemolysis, intravascular and extravascular, and the causes, both inherited and acquired. Appreciation of these facts will ensure that appropriate first-line investigations are performed in jaundiced anaemic children when they first present. Specialist advice should then be obtained to ensure the best management of these children. Acute and often self-limiting forms of haemolysis can be the most dramatic and these are the forms most likely to present to the general paediatrician.