Sickle Cell Anemia
- Cage S. Johnson, MD
Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text.
Excerpt
IN THIS issue, the editors of JAMA have reprinted an article that stands as a landmark in medical history. This article, which first appeared in The Journal 63 years ago, is a detailed account of the clinical course of the first patient recognized with sickle cell anemia at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.
History Verne R. Mason was in residency training at the time and reported this case in detail because of its supposed rarity and to draw attention to the disease as a clinical entity. In addition, he was the first to use the term sickle cell anemia, deriving it from the description of the cells in Herrick's1 original report. In his report, Mason recognized that the disease was a lifelong condition and probably inherited and that the reticulocyte count was elevated, although he did not conclude that the anemia was hemolytic (leaving that to his classmate, Sydenstricker). Furthermore, he
Footnotes
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Reprint requests to Department of Medicine, University of Southern California School of Medicine, RMR 306, 2025 Zonal Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90033 (Dr Johnson)
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A commentary on Mason VR: Sickle cell anemia. JAMA 1922;79:1318-1320.
