Delayed haemolytic transfusion reaction in paediatric patients with sickle cell disease: A retrospective study in a French national reference centre.

Delayed haemolytic transfusion reaction (DHTR) is a life-threatening haemolytic anaemia following red blood cell transfusion in patients with sickle cell disease, with only scarce data in children. We retrospectively analysed 41 cases of DHTR in children treated between 2006 and 2020 in a French university hospital. DHTR manifested at a median age of 10.5 years, symptoms occurred a median of 8 days after transfusion performed for an acute event (63%), before surgery (20%) or in a chronic transfusion programme (17%). In all, 93% of patients had painful crisis. Profound anaemia (median 49 g/L), low reticulocyte count (median 140 ×109 /L) and increased lactate dehydrogenase (median 2239 IU/L) were observed. Antibody screening was positive in 51% of patients, and more frequent when there was a history of alloimmunisation. Although no deaths were reported, significant complications occurred in 51% of patients: acute chest syndrome (12 patients), cholestasis (five patients), stroke (two patients) and kidney failure (two patients). A further transfusion was required in 23 patients and corticosteroids were used in 21 to reduce the risk of additional haemolysis. In all, 13 patients subsequently received further transfusions with recurrence of DHTR in only two. The study affords a better overview of DHTR and highlights the need to establish guidelines for its management in children.

Appropriate thresholds for accurate screening for ß-thalassemias in the newborn period: results from a French center for newborn screening.

Objectives: Newborn screening (NBS) for ß-thalassemia is based on measuring the expression of the hemoglobin A (HbA) fraction. An absence or very low level of HbA at birth may indicate ß-thalassemia. The difficulty is that the HbA fraction at birth is correlated with gestational age (GA) and highly variable between individuals. We used HbA expressed in multiples of the normal (MoM) to evaluate relevant thresholds for NBS of ß-thalassemia. Methods: The chosen threshold (HbA≤0.25 MoM) was prospectively applied for 32 months in our regional NBS program for sickle cell disease, for all tests performed, to identify patients at risk of ß-thalassemia. Reliability of this threshold was evaluated at the end of the study. Results: In all, 343,036 newborns were tested, and 84 suspected cases of ß-thalassemia were detected by applying the threshold of HbA≤0.25 MoM. Among the n=64 cases with confirmatory tests, 14 were confirmed using molecular analysis as ß-thalassemia diseases, 37 were confirmed as ß-thalassemia trait and 13 were false-positive. Determination of the optimum threshold for ß-thalassemia screening showed that HbA≤0.16 MoM had a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of 95.3%, whatever the GA. Conclusions: NBS for ß-thalassemia diseases is effective, regardless of the birth term, using the single robust threshold of HbA≤0.16 MoM. A higher threshold would also allow screening for carriers, which could be interesting when ß-thalassemia constitutes a public health problem.

Effectiveness of anastrozole and cyproterone acetate in two brothers with familial male precocious puberty.

UNLABELLED: Testotoxicosis is a rare form of precocious puberty caused by a constitutively activating mutation in the luteinizing hormone receptor (LHR) gene. Symptoms include rapid virilization, accelerated growth and reduced adult height. We describe a rare association of testotoxicosis with a metaphyseal chondrodysplasia called cartilage-hair hypoplasia (CHH) and report two brothers with testotoxicosis after 4 years of treatment. The brothers had a T577I mutation in the LHR gene. One brother also presented CHH. The older brother was treated with ketoconazole, then with the aromatase inhibitor anastrozole and the anti-androgen cyproterone acetate. The younger brother received this combination as first-line therapy. Clinical improvements included reductions in growth velocity and bone maturation rate, which should result in taller adult stature. Tolerance was good. CONCLUSION: Combined treatment with anastrozole and cyproterone acetate is effective in improving the prognosis of adult height in testotoxicosis.

Infantile pyknocytosis: a cause of haemolytic anaemia of the newborn.

This study defined the incidence, clinical and haematological characteristics of infantile pyknocytosis in a monocentric retrospective study of 149 blood samples referred for unexplained neonatal haemolytic anaemia. Pyknocytosis was diagnosed in 14 patients (9.4%). All patients had neonatal jaundice and severe anaemia (mean nadir haemoglobin: 6.8 g/dl) at a mean age of 21 d. The percentage of pyknocytes was 4-23%. Packed red blood cell transfusions were needed in 11 of 14 patients. Haemoglobin levels reached normal values within a mean time of 4 months. Infantile pyknocytosis is an unusual cause of neonatal haemolytic anaemia, which requires careful examination of blood smears.