[Severe cardiogenic hemolytic anemia with decreased flexibility of erythrocytes following surgical correction of mitral valve stenosis (author's transl)].

After surgical correction of a common atrium and closure of a mitral cleft, a mitral stenosis developed in a 5 year old girl. Postoperatively a pronounced hemolysis developed necessitating multiple blood transfusions. Rheologic measurements showed that hemolysis was due to a loss of erythrocyte deformability after mechanical damage. On the basis of these measurements it was concluded that the mitral stenosis was most likely responsible for this mechanical damage. Following another surgical correction of the mitral valve there was no hemolysis anymore.