Vol 2, No 1 (2011)
Case report
Published online: 2011-03-24
Severe vitamin B12 deficiency of unknown origin in 10-months-old girl
Hematologia 2011;2(1):92-97.
Abstract
Vitamin B12 is quite rare reason of macrocytic anemia in children. In severe cases it can lead
to neurological and psychotic symptoms or trophic lesions of tongue and mucous membranes.
The most common reasons of vitamin B12 deficiency are diet (vegetarians, and especially
vegans), malabsorption (i.e. pernicious anemia, gastric resection, achlorhydria, Crohns disease,
celiac disease, parasitic infections), congenital transcobalamin II deficiency or vitamin
B12 metabolic disorders. Breast-feeding by mothers with vitamin B12 deficiency must be also
considered as a reason of severe vitamin B12 deficiency in infants. We describe the case of
10-months-old child with severe vitamin B12 deficiency of unknown origin. We observed not
only severe hematological problems (pancytopenia), but also neurological symptoms and heart
failure. All the symptoms disappeared after compensation of vitamin B12 deficiency.
Hematologia 2011; 2, 1: 9297
Hematologia 2011; 2, 1: 9297
Keywords: vitamin B12deficiencychildren