Anaemia Associated with Unexplained Occult Blood Loss

Abstract

In the course of a study of patients with hypochromic anaemia investigated by this unit (Beveridge, Bannerman, Evanson, and Witts, in preparation) a surprisingly large number were found to have unexplained occult alimentary bleeding. Iron-deficiency anaemia associated with unexplained occult blood loss is a recognized clinical problem and has been referred to in several papers (Heath and Patek, 1937 ; Bedford and Wollner, 1958 ; Bel, 1959 ; Retzlaff, Hagedorn, and Bartholomew, 1961 ; Kay, 1962). However, there is little or no information about the long term prognosis. We therefore report the results of a follow-up study on 68 patients in whom this diagnosis was made.