CLINICAL AND HEMATOLOGIC STUDIES ON BANTI'S DISEASE

Abstract

Banti's disease, or chronic splenic anemia, has been studied from various points of view, but its pathogenesis and etiology are still obscure. Banti,¹in 1894, clearly described the pathologic lesions of the enlarged spleen of this disease, and again,²in 1910, its symptoms and its course. He also suggested splenectomy as a curative measure. Osler,³in 1900, was the first to point out the frequent occurrence of gastric hemorrhages, and his studies have placed the disease on a firm clinical basis. His definition of splenic anemia is a concise description of the important symptoms as follows: A chronic affection, probably an intoxication of unknown origin, characterized by progressive enlargement of the spleen which cannot be correlated with any known cause as malaria, leukemia, syphilis, cirrhosis of the liver, etc. (primary splenomegaly); a marked tendency to hemorrhage; and in many cases a terminal stage with cirrhosis of the