Clinical course of 63 children with hereditary spherocytosis: a retrospective study possible, to avoid splenectomy. Prospective studies with long-term follow-ups are needed to assess the risk of thrombotic events and pulmonary hypertension in patients submitted to splenectomy. References 1. Bolton-Maggs PH. Hereditary spherocytosis; new guidelines. Arch Dis Child. 2004;89(9):809-12. 2. Eber S, Lux SE. Hereditary spherocytosis--defects in proteins that connect the membrane skeleton to the lipid bilayer. Semin Hematol. 2004;41(2):118-41. 3. Gallagher PG. Red cell membrane disorders. Hematology Am Soc Hematol Educ Program. 2005:13-8. 4. Palek J. Introduction: red blood cell membrane proteins, their genes and mutations. Semin Hematol. 1993;30(1):1-3. 5. Miraglia del Giudice E, Nobili B, Francese M, D'Urso L, Iolascon A, Eber S, et al. Clinical and molecular evaluation of non-dominant hereditary spherocytosis. Br J Haematol. 2001;112(1):42-7. 6. Tse WT, Lux SE. Red blood cell membrane disorders. Br J Haematol. 1999;104(1):2-13. Comment in: Br J Haematol. 2000; 110(4):1006. 7. Delaunay J, Alloisio N, Morle L, Baklouti F, Dalla Venezia N, et al. Molecular genetics of hereditary elliptocytosis and hereditary spherocytosis. Ann Genet. 1996;39(4):209-21. 8. Hassoun H, Vassiliadis JN, Murray J, Yi SJ, Hanspal M, Johnson CA, et al. Hereditary spherocytosis with spectrin deficiency due to an unstable truncated beta spectrin. Blood. 1996;87(6): 2538-45. 9. Mariani M, Barcellini W, Vercellati C, Marcello AP, Fermo E, Pedotti P, et al. Clinical and hematologic features of 300 patients affected by hereditary spherocytosis grouped according to the type of the membrane protein defect. Haematologica. 2008;93 (9):1310-7. Comment in: Haematologica. 2008;93(9):1283-8. 10. Crisp RL, Solari L, Vota D, García E, Miguez G, Chamorro ME, et al. A prospective study to assess the predictive value for hereditary spherocytosis using five laboratory tests (cryohemolysis test, eosin- 5'-maleimide flow cytometry, osmotic fragility test, autohemolysis test, and SDS-PAGE) on 50 hereditary spherocytosis families in Argentina. Ann Hematol. 2011;90(6):625-34. 11. Eber SW, Armbrust R, Schroter W. Variable clinical severity of hereditary spherocytosis: relation to erythrocytic spectrin concentration, osmotic fragility, and autohemolysis. J Pediatr. 1990;117(3):409-16. 12. Alizai NK, Richards EM, Stringer MD. Is cholecystectomy really an indication for concomitant splenectomy in mild hereditary spherocytosis? Arch Dis Child. 2010;95(8):596-9. 13. Eber SW, Pekrun A, Neufeldt A, Schroter W. Prevalence of increased osmotic fragility of erythrocytes in German blood xxx donors: screening using a modified glycerol lysis test. Ann Hematol. 1992;64(2):88-92. 14. Friedman EW, Williams JC, Van Hook L. Hereditary spherocytosis in the elderly. Am J Med. 1988;84(3 Pt1):513-6. 15. Arcasoy MO, Gallagher PG. Hematologic disorders and nonimmune hydrops fetalis. Semin Perinatol. 1995;19(6):502-15. 16. Whitfield CF, Follweiler JB, Lopresti-Morrow L, Miller BA. Deficiency of alpha-spectrin synthesis in burst-forming units- erythroid in lethal hereditary spherocytosis. Blood. 1991;78(11): 3043-51. 17. Delhommeau F, Cynober T, Schischmanoff PO, Rohrlich P, Delaunay J, Mohandas N, et al. Natural history of hereditary spherocytosis during the first year of life. Blood. 2000;95(2): 393-7. 18. Pinto L, Iolascon A, Miraglia Del Giudice E, Materese MR, Nobili B, et al. The Italian survey on hereditary spherocytosis. Int J Pediatr Hematol Oncol. 1995;2:43-7. 19. Tamary H, Aviner S, Freud E, Miskin H, Krasnov T, Schwarz M, et al. High incidence of early cholelithiasis detected by ultrasonography in children and young adults with hereditary spherocytosis. J Pediatr Hematol Oncol. 2003;25(12):952-4. 20. Gallagher PG, Forget BG. Hematologically important mutations: spectrin and ankyrin variants in hereditary spherocytosis. Blood Cells Mol Dis. 1998;24(4):539-43. 21. Bates GC, Brown CH. Incidence of gallbladder disease in chronic hemolytic anemia (spherocytosis). Gastroenterology. 1952;21 (1):104-9. 22. Mehta J, Harjai K, Vasani J, Banghar P, Sanklecha M, Singhal S, et al. Hereditary spherocytosis: experience of 145 cases. Indian J Med Sci. 1992;46(4):103-10. 23. Rice HE, Oldham KT, Hillery CA, Skinner MA, O'Hara SM, Ware RE. Clinical and hematologic benefits of partial splenectomy for congenital hemolytic anemias in children. Ann Surg. 2003;237 (2):281-8. 24. Brown KE. Haematological consequences of parvovirus B19 infection. Baillieres Best Pract Res Clin Haematol. 2000;13(2): 245-59. 25. Rescorla FJ, Grosfeld JL. Cholecystitis and cholelithiasis in children. Semin Pediatr Surg. 1992;1(2):98-106. 26. Brigden ML, Pattullo AL. Prevention and management of over- whelming postsplenectomy infection-an update. Crit Care Med. 1999;27(4):836-42. 27. Delaunay J. Genetic disorders of the red cell membranes. FEBS Lett. 1995;369(1):34-7. 28. Abdullah F, Zhang Y, Camp M, Rossberg MI, Bathurst MA, Colombani PM, et al. Splenectomy in hereditary spherocytosis: Review of 1,657 patients and application of the pediatric quality indicators. Pediatr Blood Cancer. 2009;52(7):834-7. Comment in: Pediatr Blood Cancer. 2009;52(7):753-4. Rev Bras Hematol Hemoter. 2012;34(1):9-13 13