If a certain medication appears to be the cause, your children’s doctor may discontinue it or replace it with something else – unless the benefit of the drug outweighs this side effect.
Anemia caused by an infection will usually improve when the infection passes or is treated.
Depending on the cause, treatment for more severe or chronic forms of anemia may include:
- transfusions of normal red blood cells taken from a donor
- removal of the spleen or treatment with medications to prevent blood cells from being removed from circulation or destroyed too rapidly
- medications to fight infection or stimulate the bone marrow to make more blood cells
Bone marrow transplantation may be considered in some cases of sickle cell anemia, thalassemia, and aplastic anemia. This procedure involves taking bone marrow cells from a donor and injecting them into the child’s vein; the donated cells then travel through the bloodstream to the child’s bone marrow, where they begin producing new blood cells.