Blood, 1953, Vol. 8, No. 2, pp. 175-181.
© 1953 American Society of Hematology, Inc.
Case Report: Erythroblastic Anemia
A Manifestation of Folic Acid Deficiency
H. O. NIEWEG 1 and
A. ARENDS M.D.1
1 Department of Internal Medicine (Director: Professor F. S. P. van Buchem,
M.D.) and the Pathologic-Anatomical Laboratory (Director: Professor J. J. Th. Vos, M.D.),
University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands.
Atrophy of the spleen was observed in 3 cases of nontropical sprue, 1 case of
chronic glomerulonephritis and 1 case of Whipple's disease. The occurrence of
orthochromatic normoblasts and Howell-Jolly bodies in the peripheral blood in
the absence of splenectomy may be a manifestation of atrophy of the spleen.
Folic acid therapy was tried in 1 case and resulted in the disappearance of the
orthochromatic normoblasts and fragmentation of the Howell-Jolly bodies.
Some arguments are put forward in favor of the conception that atrophy of
the spleen may be caused by a disturbance of cell regeneration due to a chronic
folic acid deficiency.
Submitted on August 18, 1952
Accepted on October 21, 1952
