Sensory Changes in the Subacute Combined Degeneration of Pernicious Anemia

Abstract

In the following article we desire to summarize the development of our knowledge of sensory phenomena associated with pernicious anemia and to record the sensory changes encountered in forty-one cases of pernicious anemia studied in the Elliott Memorial Hospital of the University of Minnesota and in the university service of the Minneapolis General Hospital. Nearly all these cases were also studied by the members of Dr. Rowntree's staff in internal medicine and no case appears in our list in which the diagnosis of pernicious anemia was disputed. Most of our cases belong to the Addison-Biermer type of pernicious anemia. HISTORICAL SURVEY Addison 1 (1855), in his original description of pernicious anemia, said nothing of involvement of the nervous system except that he found some fatty degeneration of a portion of the semilunar ganglion of the solar plexus. Biermer 2 (1872) referred to: weakness, giddiness and palpitation and also reported capillary hemorrhages in the brain and the retina. In 1880, Herbert W. Little 3 stated: "The indications of the nervous affection in this disease are: frequent cephalalgia, vertigo, syncope, neuralgic pains, dyspepsia, vomiting, diarrhea, mental depression, mus¬ cular weakness, pallor of the skin, reduction or rise of temperature." The author thought the nervous system the primary seat of trouble and involvement of the vasomotor system important.

A Rare Case of Folate Deficiency-Induced Subacute Combined Degeneration of the Spinal Cord: A Case Report

“…SCD has been reported since the late 1800s, most notably in relation to B12 deficiency secondary to pernicious anemia [ 7 ]. SCD is a rare disease whose incidence is poorly studied, likely in part due to the most common cause, pernicious anemia, having an incidence of 0.1% in the general population [ 8 ].…”