Transient erythroblastopenia of childhood in infants < 6 months of age.

Purpose: During a 6-year period, we identified six infants < 6 months of age with transient erythroblastopenia of childhood (TEC).

Patients and methods: All patients presented with moderate to severe anemia, reticulocytopenia, and age-appropriate mean corpuscular volume and fetal hemoglobin level.

Results: Severe aregenerative anemia in an infant < 6 months of age often raises the diagnostic possibility of Diamond Blackfan anemia (DBA). Given prognostic and therapeutic implications, distinction between DBA and TEC is of crucial importance.

Conclusions: We suggest that TEC may occur more commonly in infants < 6 months of age than has heretofore been recognized and that it has a clinical and hematologic picture similar to that seen in older children. Recognition of the occurrence of TEC in very young infants may help avoid an inappropriate diagnosis of DBA.