[An adolescent with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria].

Prompted by the case history of a 17 year old girl with anaemia, mononucleosis infectiosa and abdominal pain, paroxysmal nocturnal haemoglobinuria (PNH) is described. After a mononucleosis infectiosa infection she developed many complications of which the most prominent were hemolysis and thrombosis. Severe abdominal pain and episodic bowel obstruction occurred as a result of micro-infarction of the mesentery; bone marrow aplasia and lysis of platelets resulted in progressive thrombopenia. Pathogenesis and therapeutical possibilities are discussed. Coexistence of a necrotising enterocolitis with rectovaginal fistula, a heart infarction and the striking weight loss and hyponatremia during exacerbations, as seen in our patient, have not previously been described in PNH.