Treatment

Folic acid supplements - 1 mg per day

Splenectomy is the treatment of choice. It does not correct the spherocytosis or the membrane defects but will eliminate the site of haemolysis. The blood smear acquires the changes typical of the postsplenectomy state - Howell-Jolly bodies, target cells, siderocytes and acanthocytes.

However, splenectomy increases susceptibility to infection from pneumonia and other encapsulated bacteria, especially in infancy and childhood, and so is usually delayed until the patient is older than 4 years. It may be unecessary in mild cases which present late in life.