Bone-marrow in the treatment of pernicious anaemia / by Thomas R. Fraser.

  • Fraser Thomas R. (Thomas Richard), Sir, 1841-1920.
Date:
[1894?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Bone-marrow in the treatment of pernicious anaemia / by Thomas R. Fraser. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

    1/8
    BONE-MAREOW IN THE TREATMENT OF PERNICIOUS ANEMIA. 1 By THOMAS R. FRASER, M.D., LL.D., F.R.S., F.R.C.P.E., Professor o£ Materia Medica and of Clinical Medicine in the University of Edinburgh. Although this communication deals with only one case of pernicious anaemia treated with bone-marrow, the curative eifect seems sufficiently evident to justify the publication of the case, especially as an opportunity occuiTed for testing in it the value of the chief remedies hitherto used in the treat- ment of this disease. The patient. A, R., a gardener, 60 years of age, entered the Royal Infirmary on September 30th, 1893. His symptoms were frequent vomiting and diarrhoea, oedema of the feet and ankles, moderate and irregular pyrexia, dimness of vision, retinal htemorrhages, anorexia, dyspnoea, and, latterly, com- plete prostration. The illness had existed for about four months. Although I was desirous at once to treat this patient with bone-maiTow, the condition was so serious a one that, in the absence of experience regarding the therapeutic value of bone- marrow, I considered it advisable to administer, in the first instance, some of the remedies usually employed in per- nicious anaemia. Only after they had failed in producing benefit was bone-marrow given. For the sake of brevity, I shall divide the history of the patient into eight periods, which correspond with the treat- ment adopted in each period (see Diagram). First Period, two weeks, no medicinal treatment. During this period, the hajmocytes of the blood varied from 1,860,000 to 1,460,000 per cub. mill., and the haemoglobin from 28 to 30 per cent., the specific gravity being 1038. There was great distortion in the shape and variation in the size of the hajmocytes, which did not form rouleaux. Retinal hsemor- rhages were present in both eyes. Second Period, two weeks and a-half; ferrous cliloride, 6 to 12 grains daily. The haemocytes and haemoglobin steadily fell to 900,000 per cub. mill, and 20 per cent., respectively, and the specific gravity to 1036. 1 Abstract of a communication to the Eleventh International Medical Congress, held in Rome, April, 1894