Is There an Anemia Responsive to Pantothenic Acid? *

Upon admission to the hospital, a 53‐year‐old black woman showed anorexia, weight loss, lethargy, incontinence and hypochromic anemia with increased storage of iron in the bone marrow. After an unsuccessful trial of pyridoxine, all symptoms and signs improved dramatically following administration of pantothenic acid. (At the time of admission, chest x‐ray findings were such that INH‐streptomycin therapy was started.) She was discharged 6.5 months after entry. For several years thereafter she received no vitamin therapy, and a similar clinical picture again developed. There was a clinical, but probably not a hematologic, response to a multiple‐vitamin preparation containing large amounts of pantothenic acid. At this time and later, the course was complicated by cancer of the cervix, from which the patient died.