Objective: To study the clinical characteristics of autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA) with both warm and cold autoantibodies.
Methods: Clinical and laboratory characteristics of 23 cases of AIHA with both warm and cold autoantibodies admitted to our hospital between January 1994 and April 2004 were analyzed retrospectively.
Results: In comparison with the AIHA patients with both warm and cold autoantibodies in the 1980s, the present patients showed the following features: The proportion of this kind AIHA in all AIHA patients increased from 17.6% to 22.1%. There were more females, more primary cases (73.9%), more mixed subtypes of autoantibodies and more of IgM (56.5%). The hemolysis was related with thermal amplitude of autoantibodies and quantity of complement. The response to cortisone and other immunosuppressive drugs was good. The relapse rate was 77.8% in a median follow-up time of 4 months.
Conclusions: AIHA with both warm and cold autoantibodies is related with the type and thermal amplitude of the autoantibody and the activation of complement. It can be treated effectively with combined immunosuppressive therapy, but the relapse rate is high.