Types of childhood blood disorders

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At Advocate Children’s Hospital, we provide individualized care for your child, including helping them transition into adulthood and manage their own care.

Our board-certified hematologists treat all types of blood disorders, working with you to create a plan focused on your child’s needs. Our team includes a nurse educator who can help your family understand blood disorders such as sickle cell anemia and von Willebrand disease.

Childhood blood disorders treated at Advocate Children’s Hospital

There are many types of children’s blood disorders. Our team treats a wide variety of blood disorders, sometimes with clinical trials. While we provide much of the care at our Oak Lawn location, we can also refer you to additional experts if needed.

Some blood disorders cause only mild symptoms while others are more severe. Children’s blood disorders include:

Anemia means a child doesn’t have enough properly formed red blood cells or hemoglobin, a protein that helps the cells carry oxygen. Often, children develop anemia because of poor diet or blood loss, but certain diseases can also cause it. Occasionally, children inherit the problem.

Anemia can cause problems with a child’s growth and brain development. It can also make children look pale or give their skin, eyes or mouth a yellow tint. Other symptoms include fatigue, trouble breathing and feeling irritable. Some children experience pain, ranging from mild to severe.

If your child has these symptoms, you should contact your pediatrician. The doctor will help decide if you need to make an appointment with our team. We treat many children with blood disorders such as anemia, including those with genetic conditions passed down from parents. Types of anemias include:

Iron-deficiency anemia: Children lack iron because of poor diet, blood loss, gastrointestinal disease or, less frequently, an inherited blood disorder. Red blood cells need iron to make hemoglobin.
Sickle cell disease: Instead of their usual smooth “O” shape, red blood cells become stiff and sticky and look like a sickle or a “C.” These misshapen cells can block blood vessels, cause pain and lead to problems with internal organs. Learn more about our sickle cell disease program.
Thalassemia: In this group of inherited blood disorders, the red blood cells don’t have enough hemoglobin. Thalassemia can cause problems with bones, growth, heart function and infections.

Bleeding disorders affect blood clotting, also called coagulation. Normally, clotting keeps the body from bleeding too much. Blood cells called platelets and proteins in the blood make clots inside the body and scabs on the skin’s surface.

But if the blood’s plasma proteins don’t work correctly or there aren’t enough platelets, a child may bleed excessively. Our doctors have many years of experience treating bleeding disorders and preventing complications. We help children with these bleeding and blood disorders:

Hemophilia: In this condition, the blood lacks certain proteins or has proteins that don't work correctly. This leads to excessive bleeding even with small injuries.
Thrombocytopenia: In this condition, the blood lacks enough platelets, leading to nosebleeds, bleeding under the skin and other problems.
Von Willebrand disease: This condition happens when a protein called the von Willebrand factor is defective or there isn’t enough of it in the blood. Learn more about von Willebrand disease.

While clotting helps the body respond to bleeding and injury, some people form unnecessary clots, a process called thrombosis. This tendency, thrombophilia, can lead to reduced blood flow through blood vessels as well as potential heart attacks and strokes.

Sometimes excessive clotting is temporary, caused by medical treatments or certain medications. At other times, the problem is inherited, as it is for children with disorders called factor V Leiden and prothrombin thrombophilia. Our doctors can help your child with both temporary symptoms and longer-term challenges.

These blood disorders are caused by problems with a person’s immune system, usually tied to other diseases or infections. The immune system creates antibodies, substances that normally safeguard against foreign substances. With an autoimmune disorder, the body attacks its own blood cells.

Symptoms of these blood disorders may include chills, yellowing of the skin and a fast heartbeat. Some of the autoimmune disorders we treat are:

Autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA): With this condition, the immune system destroys red blood cells, causing them to burst. It can happen very quickly.
Evans syndrome: In this disorder, antibodies may attack either or both red and white blood cells or platelets. These attacks damage cells and can cause problems with bleeding and clotting.
Immune thrombocytopenia (ITP): This condition causes the immune system to destroy the body’s own platelets, the blood cells that help control bleeding.

In bone marrow failure conditions, the body doesn’t make enough blood cells. Children might have low red or white blood cells or not enough platelets.

Bone marrow failure syndromes might make a person more likely to get infections or have problems with blood clotting. Our doctors help treat symptoms, including developing a plan to avoid infections and other problems.

Some blood disorders affect white blood cells, the cells that help protect the body from infection. The body may make too many white blood cells or too few, or the cells may not function correctly.

People with white blood cell disorders may feel tired or weak. They may also develop frequent infections or infections that return after treatment. Our care team helps manage white blood cell counts with therapy. We help your child avoid infections and other complications.