Naturopathic Management of Hereditary Spherocytosis: A Case Report.

Hereditary spherocytosis (HS) is a common variant of inherited hemolytic anemia, in which abnormalities of red blood cells (RBC) structural proteins lead to loss of erythrocyte membrane surface area, resulting in spherical, hyperdense, weakly deformable RBCs. It is characterized by the presence of osmotically fragile erythrocytes, known as spherocytes in peripheral blood smear (PBS). The mutations that cause HS occur in genes encoding for red blood cell membrane/cytoskeletal proteins, predominantly, ankyrin-1, α- and β-spectrins, band-3, and protein 4.