STANDARDS FOR RED BLOOD CELL INCREASE AFTER LIVER AND STOMACH THERAPY IN PERNICIOUS ANEMIA

Data from 129 selected patients with pernicious anemia in relapse, adequately treated with liver extract intramuscularly, and twenty-one patients treated with desiccated, defatted stomach tissue have been analyzed to note the rate of increase in the red blood cell count. The dosage of liver extract averaged the equivalent of from 1 to 2 units daily, and the desiccated stomach dosage was usually 40 Gm. daily for the first two weeks. In chart 1 the red blood cell count at the beginning of intramuscular liver extract therapy is plotted against the red blood cell count at the end of one, two, three and four weeks. A separate line is drawn for each week. The lines have been smoothed and corrections have been made for deviations due to manifest abnormalities and inadequate data at various points, as indicated by evident interpolations. Data from more than 500 cases were available for such changes.