Cold agglutinin disease
Cold agglutinin disease What every physician needs to know: Cold agglutinin disease (CAD) is a rare (approximately 1:100,000) disorder in which a red cell autoantibody, primarily IgM (immunoglobulin M), fixes complement in vivo. Complement fixation preferentially occurs at temperatures below 37°C, hence the term CAD. This results in mostly extravascular hemolytic anemia, but intravascular hemolysis…