Treatment of the Anemia of Myxoedema*

Anemia of a mild or moderate degree is a common occurrence in myxoedema and has received extensive comment in the literature. Stone (1), and Emery (2), to mention only two of the workers in this field, are of this opinion. On the other hand, Mackenzie (3), reporting three cases of anemia in Irypothyroidism, states that anemia is not a prominent feature in the great majority of cases. Most writers note that the anemia improves in some cases as the myxoedema is treated. On the experimental side, several investigators have found that thyroidectomy in animals produces an anemia which responds to thyroid feeding. Kunde (4) et al. have recently shown that the anemia of hypothyroidism in rabbits is characterized by a greater than normal diameter of the erythrocytes and a color index greater than 1, and that thyroid feeding causes a reticulocyte response varying from 4 to 10 per cent, together with the disappearance of the anemia. Hoskins and Sleeper (5) have reviewed some of the literature on this subject. They show that thyroid feeding in non-myxoedematous subjects has an effect on the blood. In 13 out of 15 patients with dementia praecox there was a rise in the number of red blood cells after a prolonged period of thyroid administration. On the other hand, Deusch (6) is of the opinion that there is no relationship between the thyroid and the hematopoietic system, and that in neither primary nor secondary anemias has any response been obtained by the use of thyroid.