Rare Association of Coeliac Disease with Aplastic Anaemia: Report of a Case from India

Coeliac disease is a systemic autoimmune disorder with major intestinal manifestations. It has multiple hematologic associations including anaemia (mostly due to iron, folate and/or vitamin B12 malabsorption), other cytopenias, coagulation abnormalities, hyposplenism, IgA deficiency and lymphomas. Aplastic anaemia has however, only rarely been described with celiac disease in published literature. We here present a case of atypical coeliac disease in a 40 year male Indian patient, with insignificant gastrointestinal symptoms, presenting with aplastic anaemia manifested by pancytopenia with hypocellular bone marrow. On gluten free diet, his symptoms like weakness, fatigue and malaise were relieved—blood and platelet transfusion requirement also diminished.