University of Sheffield sYNPosis Biopsies of the tongue and oesophagus were performed on 14 patients with uncomplicated iron-deficiency anaemia before and after treatment with iron. Haemoglobin and serum iron estimations were performed at the same time.Nine patients had clinical evidence of atrophic changes in the tongue before therapy was started. Evidence of regeneration appeared within one or two weeks of starting iron therapy. Two patients showed persistent atrophy. Angular stomatitis and koilonychia were longer in disappearing.Biopsies confirmed that filiform papillae and kerato-hyalin granules are frequently absent from the epithelium of the smooth tongues of iron-deficient patients. Iron therapy is followed by the re-appearance of keratohyalin granules and keratinized filiform papillae.Two patients complained of dysphagia, which disappeared after treatment. No abnormality in the oesophageal epithelium was found in any of the patients either before or after therapy. The relationship of oesophageal carcinoma to antecedent iron-deficiency epithelial changes is considered suspect.
SUMMARY Six male and three female patients previously iron deficient after a partial gastrectomy were investigated using a whole body counter to measure their percentage 59Fe retention.No significant difference in iron loss between postgastrectomy patients and controls was found in the majority of subjects over a study which lasted from 175 to 225 days. The detection of increased free iron loss requires a more sensitive double isotope faecal recovery method.Two patients developed acute bleeding during the study and the whole body counter provided clinically useful data on blood loss.If patients develop gastrointestinal blood loss after partial gastrectomy either a recurrent ulcer or a site of blood loss elsewhere (eg, in the lower bowel) should be excluded.Iron-deficiency anaemia occurs frequently after partial gastrectomy and its incidence increases in relation to the duration of time after operation (Baird, Blackburn, and Wilson, 1959;. Iron absorption is impaired after partial gastrectomy but the role of blood loss or free iron loss in the anaemia after partial gastrectomy is still not clear. Kimber, Patterson, and Weintraub (1967) found increased faecal blood loss in the stools using a radiochromium labelled red cell technique in six out of eight patients after partial gastrectomy with untreated iron-deficiency anaemia. Holt, Gear, and Warner, (1970) in a study of patients over periods of up to three months, using a whole body counter to determine blood loss, concluded that abnormal bleeding was present in five patients who lost blood at a rate of over 150 ml per month. Contrary evidence about blood loss after partial gastrectomy was found by Stevens, Pinzio-Biroli, Harkins, Nyhus, and Finch (1959) and Baird, St. John, and Nasser (1970) whose faecal radiochromium blood loss studies failed to show any increased blood loss either basal or after an aspirin challenge in partial gastrectomy subjects compared with controls.The present study was designed to give further observations on the role of blood loss after partial gastrectomy, using a whole body counter (Warner and Oliver, 1966) in long-term measurements of whole body radioiron for periods up to 225 days. Control subjects and patients previously iron 'Requests for reprints to I.McL.B.,
Side-effect of Phenindione SIR,-I would like to bring to the attention of other physicians a brownish-yellow discoloration of the fingernails which became evident in one of my patients who was treated with long-term anticoagulants for coronary disease. This patient was started on phenindione in April, 1962, and put on a long-term maintenance dose on May 2, 1962, but in August, 1962, he noted that the peripheral third of every fingernail in the hands had become brownish-yellow in colour, and this has persisted up to the present date. He is still on a maintenance therapy of "dindevan " (phenindione) 75 mg. daily. I would be very interested to learn if other physicians have noted this unusual side-effect of phenindione.-I am, etc.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.