Past Issues
Anemia Secondary to Valproic Acid in a Female Patient with Schizoaffective Disorder
Chen-Yu Wang, Ching-Ming Cheng, Ming-Shun Chung
A 38-year-old single woman patient with a
diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder was admitted
to a psychiatric acute ward through emergency
department. She was diagnosed as schizophrenia
with mood symptoms when she was 30-year-old
in a medical center. She presented herself with
manic symptoms, auditory hallucination, persecutory
delusion, reference delusion, and thought
broadcasting during the hospitalization course.
Valproic acid (VPA) was prescribed due to prominent
manic symptoms including irritabity, hypertalkativeness,
hyperactivity, impulsivity, distractibility,
and grandiosity since admission. The
psychotic symptoms remained after multiple antipsychotic
medication treatment. Clozapine was
considered and total blood count was checked before
initiating the treatment. The result showed a
newly found normocytic anemia, with hemoglobin
(Hb) 8.9 g/dL, hematocrit (HCT) 28.4%, and
mean cell volume (MCV) 88.2 fL, which were
12.7 g/dL, 39%, and 87.8 fL at admission. We
traced her medical record and found the Hb was
11.6 g/dL six months ago. She also denied any history
of anemia, and was not in her menstrual
period.
Key Word |
---|