Rare Blood Disease

Blood is opaque, mobile fluid connective tissue that is of mesodermal origin. It is composed of plasma, blood cells and platelets in a wide range of molecules and ions. Many drugs, administered for the treatment of various disorders come into direct contact with blood if taken orally or injected intravenously. A multitude of drug interactions may pose a serious problem, especially for people who take prescription drugs to treat different diseases simultaneously. Some of these drugs may cause adverse effects on blood cells and lead to various blood disorders. Blood disorders are rare but extremely serious and can even prove fatal.

Types of drug induced blood disorders: In our bodies, red bone marrow contains pluripotent stem cells that differentiate and mature to form different types of blood cells. Different drugs have different effects on different cells at different stages of cell development. Blood can be characterized in terms of where and when in the development of cellular drug acts on. Some common blood disorders include, but are not limited to:

Aplastic anemia: This is a form of anemia characterized by an abnormal deficiency in all blood cells resulting from the failure of the bone marrow. It is a rare disorder of hematopoietic stem cells, which was found to be caused by the use of chloramphenicol. Several non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs have also been found to cause aplastic anemia.

Agranulocytosis: This is an acute blood disorder characterized by a severe reduction in granulocytes and neutrophils. It is often caused by radiation and chemotherapy are known to cause a reduction in neutrophil granulocytes. Some anti-thyroid Propylthiouracil and carbimazole as also increase the risk of agranulocytosis.

Thrombocytopenia: This is a blood disorder characterized by an abnormally low number of platelets in the blood. Heparin is a well known medicines related to the severe reduction of platelets.

Hypertension: It is a common disorder in which blood pressure remains abnormally high (a reading of 140/90 mm Hg or higher). It is also called hypertension. Amphetamines, steroids, estrogens are some medications that can lead to hypertension.

Symptoms:

Symptoms of blood disorders induced by drugs vary depending on the type of drug used and the effects of drugs they produce. However, some general symptoms of various common blood disorders may include bleeding gums, chest pain, dry cough, dyspnea (difficult or labored breathing fatigue), malaise, pallor (abnormal absence of color), stomatitis (inflammation the mucous membrane of the mouth), lassitude (weakness characterized by a lack of energy), lymphadenopathy (chronic abnormal enlargement of lymph nodes), small dot ie red or purple petechiae on the surface of the skin following haemorrhaging of tiny blood vessels in the skin, to name a few.

Treatment:

Treatment of blood diseases requires special expertise. Aplastic anemia may require immunosuppressive therapy and bone marrow / stem cell transplant while corticosteroids is beneficial in cases of hemolytic anemia. As an immediate measure, the use of suspected drug should be discontinued and short-term supportive treatment should be given to patients.