Minhas Parminder S, K Virdi Jaspreet, Patel Rajeshkumar
Department of Internal Medicine, Abington Jefferson Health, Abington, PA, USA.
Department of Pulmonary/Critical Care Medicine, Abington Jefferson Health, Abington, PA, USA.
J Community Hosp Intern Med Perspect. 2017 Jul 13;7(3):194-195. doi: 10.1080/20009666.2017.1340729. eCollection 2017 Jul.
Splenic dysfunction is a major feature of sickle cell disease (SCD) and can manifest as acute splenic sequestration crisis (ASSC), which is the earliest life-threatening complication seen in patients with SCD. Aplastic crisis is another potentially deadly complication of sickle cell disease that develops when erythrocyte production temporarily drops. Infection with parvovirus B-19 frequently causes aplastic crises. These two complications are known to be mutually exclusive due to their classic presentation signs and symptoms but there have been few cases where a patient can have concomitant presentation of both phenomena, which can result in a fatal outcome. These few cases force us to rethink the etiology and subsequent management guidelines of these complications. We present to you a case of an unfortunate 23-year-old female who had both complications occurring at the same time, resulting in death.
