Aplastic anaemia is a rare blood disorder, which causes blood cell production to break down so that not enough important blood cells are made.

Anaemia

Anaemia is a condition where there are too few red blood cells, which are needed to carry oxygen around the body. Although anaemia can occur on its own, it usually develops as a symptom of many other disease, including blood cancers.

Aplastic anaemia, which is being discussed here, is a much more serious condition that develops, independent of other blood disorders, during a patient’s life.

Developing aplastic anaemia

Aplastic anaemia develops in the bone marrow - the soft tissue in the middle of our bones where all our blood cells are made. Mother cells, called stem cells reside here and make every type of blood cell that we need.

Stem cells constantly produce new blood cells to replace old and damaged ones. New blood cells only leave the bone marrow once they have fully matured. This process is well controlled so that we have just the right amount of each blood cell in our body.

When someone has aplastic anaemia blood cell production breaks down. The body is therefore no longer able to make sufficient numbers of blood cells. This usually happens because cells in the immune system begin to attack and destroy stem cells in the bone marrow. The spaces this leaves in the bone marrow are then filled up with fat cells.

Aplastic anaemia is not a blood cancer, which is the over production of abnormal, or cancerous, blood cells. Rather, it is a lack of healthy blood cells, but this in itself leads to serious problems.

What are the signs and symptoms?