Association of Celiac Disease with Aplastic Anemia

The authors report a case of 13-y-old boy who presented with pain in bilateral knee and ankle joints accompanied by petechiae all over the body and hematochezia. On investigation, he had pancytopenia, which on subsequent evaluation revealed aplastic anemia. On investigation for short stature, he was diagnosed as a case of celiac disease. He was started on gluten free diet and the counts improved over 8 mo. Association between aplastic anemia and celiac disease has rarely been reported. To the best of authors’ knowledge only 8 adult cases of celiac disease associated with aplastic anemia have been published. This is the first report to suggest an association in children and response to a gluten free diet.