. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2010 Jun 16.

Published in final edited form as: Hematol Oncol Clin North Am. 2009 Apr;23(2):261–282. doi: 10.1016/j.hoc.2009.01.004

Table 2.

Differential Diagnosis of DBA versus TEC^*

	Diamond Blackfan Anemia (DBA)	Transient Erythroblastopenia of Childhood (TEC)
Pure red cell aplasia	Present	Present
Age	Younger than 1 year	Older than 1 year
Inheritance	Sporadic and dominant inheritance. Mutation analysis as available.	Not inherited
Congenital anomalies	Present	Absent
Mean Corpuscular Volume (MCV)	Elevated	Normal (may be elevated upon recovery)
Fetal hemoglobin	Elevated	Normal (may be elevated upon recovery)
erythrocyte ADA (eADA) activity	Elevated	Normal
Other cytopenias	May be present	May be present

All RBC characteristics except eADA activity are helpful only when tested in a reticulocytopenic child. During recovery from TEC, a transient wave of fetal-like erythropoiesis with elevated MCV and fetal hemoglobin may be detected.

Modified from, Dessypris EN, Lipton, JM: Red cell aplasia. In: Wintrobe’s Clinical Hematology, 11th ed., JP, Greer, J, Foerster, JN, Lukens, GM, Rogers, F, Paraskevas, BE, Glader (eds.), Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins, Philadelphia, 2003, pp. 1421–1437