Chronic Hemolytic Anemia Associated with Thalassemia and Sickling Traits

The family history, case history and genealogy of a 6 year old girl suffering from a chronic hemolytic anemia is presented. The disease, resulting from her inheritance of both the gene for sickle trait and that for thalassemia trait, is compared to a similar case in a 38 year old male reported by Powell, et al. To date the child has had no clinical evidence of an hemolytic anemia, except for an enlarged spleen. Hematologically, however, all findings indicate the presence of a brisk hemolytic process. Electrophoretic analysis of the patienst’s hemoglobin reveals a unique pattern intermediate between the usual sickle cell trait and sickle anemia patterns.