Author(s)

Seynabou Fall¹, Nafissatou Diagne², Oulimata-Dior Diop¹, Boundia Djiba², Fatou-Samba-Diago Ndiaye¹, Abdoulaye Pouye²

¹Clinical Haematology Unit of Internal Medicine Department, Aristide Le Dantec University Teaching Hospital, Dakar, Senegal.
²Internal Medicine Department, Aristide Le Dantec University Teaching Hospital, Dakar, Senegal.

Pernicious anemia in black people, is little known. Through this study we assess its diagnostic and evolutive aspects, and compare vitamin therapy B12 intramuscular and oral. Sixty six Biermer disease patients followed (January 2000-June 2014) at Internal Medicine Department of Aristide Le Dantec University Teaching Hospital (Senegal) are included. They were 26 men and 46 women (gender ratio: 0.65), who had a mean age of 47.84 years ± 15.25 years. Patients consulted for anemia (65 cases), acquired melanodermia (36 cases), gastrointestinal symptoms (30 cases), peripheral neuropathy (27 cases), venous thrombosis (2 cases), acute depression (1 case). Macrocytosis was observed in 52 cases. The mean hemoglobin in the vitamin B12 intramuscular group (52 patients) or oral group (14 patients) was the inclusion: 6.55 g/dl ± 3.12 g/dl vs 6.52 g/dl ± 2.18 g/dl (p = 0.04); and at day 8 treatment: 8.69 g/dl ± 2.49 g/dl vs 8.85 g/dl ± 1.9 g/dl (p = 0.43). Neurological and vascular presentations are unusual in contrast to macrocytic anemia. Oral administration of vitamin B12, simple and effective should be recommended in country with limited resources.

Pernicious Anemia, Intramuscular Vitamin B12, Oral Vitamin B12, Senegal

Fall, S. , Diagne, N. , Diop, O. , Djiba, B. , Ndiaye, F. and Pouye, A. (2016) Biermer Disease: Initial Presentation and Follow-Up of 66 Patients in Internal Medicine Department in Senegal. International Journal of Clinical Medicine, 7, 585-591. doi: 10.4236/ijcm.2016.79064.