Pernicious anemia

This is a syndrome associated with a deficiency of B ₁₂ and folic acid in the body. It is characterized by the presence in the bone marrow of a large number of large immature precursors of red blood cells (megaloblasts).

Vitamin B ₁₂ is absorbed mainly in the lower ileum . Anemia can be caused by insufficient intake of vitamin B ₁₂ in food, insufficient production of Castle's internal factor in the parietal cells of the stomach , abnormal processes in the ileum with malabsorption, or competition for tape worms or bacteria for vitamin B ₁₂ .

With vitamin B ₁₂ deficiency, against the background of the anemic clinical picture (or without it), neurological disorders can also occur due to a violation of the synthesis of fatty acids associated with vitamin B ₁₂ deficiency. Demyelination and irreversible death of nerve cells can be observed. Symptoms of such a pathology are numbness or tingling of the limbs and ataxia .

• Bright red and then “varnished” tongue .
• Gastric achilia .
• Anemia with the presence of abnormal red blood cells .
• Damage to the nervous system .
• Yellowish skin color.
• The formation in the bone marrow of abnormal large cells instead of red blood cells (transition to megaloblastic type of hematopoiesis).

• Vitamin B ₁₂ deficiency in nutrition or malabsorption
• Bowel disorder
• Long-term use of medications that decrease stomach acidity
• Gastrectomy
• Autoimmune damage to Castle's internal factor or parietal cells.
• Infection with tapeworms (wide tape)
• Toxic effect on the wall of the stomach
• Stomach cancer
• Hereditary defect transmitted autosomally recessively

In the absence of treatment, anemia and degeneration of nerves develop, since the bone marrow and tissues of the nervous system are especially sensitive to vitamin B ₁₂ deficiency.

In 1855, the English physician Thomas Addison , and then in 1872 in more detail the German physician Anton Birmer described the disease, which was called malignant (pernicious) anemia. Soon, the French doctor Arman Trusso proposed calling these diseases Addison anemia and Addison's disease.

In 1926, J. Whipple , J. Minot, and W. Murphy reported that pernicious anemia was treated by injecting a raw liver into the diet and that the underlying cause of the disease was the congenital inability of the stomach to secrete a substance necessary for absorption of vitamin B ₁₂ in the intestines . For this discovery, they received the Nobel Prize in 1934.

• Intrinsic factor
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_B12_deficiency

• Anemia
• Our health
• Da-med.ru ::: B12-deficient anemia (pernicious anemia)