Family Practice
THE JOURNAL OF FAMILY PRACTICE Emmanuel Andrès, MD, B12 deficiency: A look beyond Laure Federici, MD, Stéphan Affenberger, MD pernicious anemia Department of Internal Medicine, Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases, Food-B12 malabsorption—not pernicious anemia—is the Hôpitaux Universitaires de Strasbourg, leading cause of B12 malabsorption. It’s also very subtle Strasbourg, France emmanuel.andres @chru-strasbourg.fr Practice recommendations such as its link to Helicobacter pylori • Mild, preclinical B deficiency infection and long-term antacid and bi- Josep Vidal-Alaball, MD 12 Department of General is associated with food-B12 guanide use. It also requires that you Practice, Cardiff University, malabsorption more often than consider not only a patient’s serum B12 United Kingdom with pernicious anemia. (C) ® Dowdenlevels, but his Health homocysteine Media and meth - Noureddine Henoun ylmalonic acid levels, since they are con- Loukili, PhD • The classic treatment for B 12 Department of Hygiene and deficiency—particularly when the sidered more sensitive indicators of co- 6 Fight against Nosocomial cause is not a dietaryCopyright deficiency—isFor personalbalamin deficiency. use Keyingonly in on these Infections, Hôpital Calmette, 100 to 1000 mcg per month of indicators early will ensure prompt treat- CHRU de Lille, Lille, France cyanocobalamin, IM. (B) ment, which typically includes intramus- cular injections of the vitamin, but which Jacques Zimmer, MD, PhD • Oral crystalline cyanocobalamin could revolve around a more convenient Laboratoire is an effective treatment for food- d’Immunogénétique- option: oral B12. Allergologie, Centre de B12 malabsorption, though it’s Recherche Public de la Santé effectiveness in the long term has (CRP-Santé) de Luxembourg, not been demonstrated.
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