Surviving Extreme Anaemia

  • Joana Esteves Internal Medicine Department, Hospital Santa Maria Maior, Barcelos, Portugal
  • Joana Fernandes Intensive Care Medicine Department, Centro Hospitalar e Universitário São João, Porto, Portugal https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5402-242X
  • Pedro Oliveira-Monteiro Clinical Hematology Department, Centro Hospitalar e Universitário São João, Porto, Portugal https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9175-4139
  • Mariana Almeida Internal Medicine Department, Centro Hospitalar e Universitário São João, Porto, Portugal
  • Luís Nogueira-Silva Internal Medicine Department, Centro Hospitalar e Universitário São João, Porto, Portugal; Center for Research in Health Technologies and Information Systems (CINTESIS), Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal; Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5519-707X
  • Jorge Almeida Internal Medicine Department, Centro Hospitalar e Universitário São João, Porto, Portugal; Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1337-7179
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12890/2021_002357

Keywords

Severe anaemia, vitamin B12, nutritional deficiency

Abstract

Before the development of transfusion medicine, severe anaemia was an important cause of morbidity and mortality. The discovery of haematopoietic mechanisms and essential nutrients made it possible to easily treat and prevent this condition. Nevertheless, it is often fatal in patients presenting with extreme anaemia (haemoglobin levels <2 g/dl). We report the rare case of a 54-year-old woman who presented with profound megaloblastic anaemia (haemoglobin of 1.7 g/dl) due to vitamin B12 deficiency, and was successfully treated.

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    • Published: 2021-03-05

    Issue: 2021: Vol 8 No 3 (view)

    Section: Articles

    How to cite:
    1.
    Esteves J, Fernandes J, Oliveira-Monteiro P, Almeida M, Nogueira-Silva L, Almeida J. Surviving Extreme Anaemia. EJCRIM 2021;8 doi:10.12890/2021_002357.