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Causes of Aplastic Anemia

Aplastic Anemia is categorized by its cause and classified by its level of severity (see Aplastic Anemia Classificiation).

Aplastic Anemia can be inherited or acquired; if acquired, it can be acquired from a known or unknown source.

inherited aplastic anemia

Inherited aplastic anemia is seen in Fanconi Anemia, and most often found in children of a very young age.

acquired aplastic anemia

Acquired Aplastic Anemia is also known as secondary aplastic anemia. Acquired Aplastic Anemia can be from a known source or an unknown source. Approximately 50% of the people diagnosed with Aplastic Anemia do not know how they acquired it.

Acquired Aplastic Anemia - known source

Of those people who know where they acquired the disease, it is most often traced to insecticides, pesticides or some other toxic catalyst such as benzene found in paint thinner, or arsenic. Aplastic Anemia can also be caused by drugs such as chloramphenicol, carbamazepine, felbamate, phenytoin, quinine and phenylbutazone.

The toxicity of the catalyst causes a chemical change in the blood system that results in the aplastic disease.

Acquired Aplastic Anemia - Unknown source

Of those people who do not know where they acquired Aplastic Anemia, it is believed that they were exposed to a catalyst, but because they cannot identify it there is no substantiated research to uphold that conjecture.

Idiopathic (cannot determine cause) Aplastic Anemia is caused by an autoimmune disorder; white blood cells (or more specifically, t-cells) attack the bone marrow.

diagnosis

Unfortunately, there is no test for Aplastic Anemia. There are tests that can be conducted for its closely related diseases, Paroxysmal Nocturnal Hemoglobinuria (PNH) and Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS), but Aplastic Anemia lacks the elements of both of those diseases. It is therefore diagnosed by ruling out Luekemia, Lymphoma, MDS and PNH.

aplastic anemia Information:

For more information about Aplastic Anemia, please consider these sites:

Aplastic Anemia Association

One Life Matters BLOG

Marrow.Org

Bone Marrow Donation

Bone Marrow Testing