Pernicious Anemia

Severe or long-lasting untreated pernicious anemia can have a serious impact on major organs in the body, including the heart and brain. Indeed, the word ‘pernicious’ means deadly because it was often fatal in the past. Now, with vitamin B12 treatments and pills, patients with this disorder can generally live well and normal lives.

Self-Assessment Questions:

Click here to test your understanding of Pernicious Anemia.

Discussion Questions:

1. In the video, Reynold’s number was mentioned as a quantitative indicator of turbulent blood flow. According to the paper written by Ha et al., turbulent blood flow is implicated in the pathogenesis of several cardiovascular diseases. What anatomical and physiological factors could cause increased turbulence in the aorta?
2. In pernicious anemia, the body can not properly use vitamin B12. Knowing this, propose 2-3 possible devices that could be implanted somewhere in the body to help patients with pernicious anemia produce a larger amount of red blood cells. What are some safety considerations for each of them?
3. Use the literature to learn about the process of producing intrinsic factor, a protein in the stomach that is used for vitamin B12 absorption. What tissue engineering approaches could be implemented to help with vitamin B12 deficiency (pernicious) anemia?
4. Why do you think that red blood cells are larger in people with pernicious anemia? How might this symptom cause problems, if any (Hint: consider Nagao et. al’s paper on macrocytic anemia)?

Continue Reading:

• T. Nagao and M. Hirokawa, “Diagnosis and treatment of macrocytic anemias in adults,” J Gen Fam Med, vol. 18, no. 5, pp. 200–204, Apr. 2017, doi: 10.1002/jgf2.31. Click here to read.
  • This article explores the pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment of macrocytic anemia.
• H. Ha et al., “Age-Related Vascular Changes Affect Turbulence in Aortic Blood Flow,” Frontiers in Physiology, vol. 9, p. 36, 2018, doi: 10.3389/fphys.2018.00036.
  • This study examines the effect that age has on both the extent and degree of turbulence in aortic blood flow.
• H. F. Bunn, “Vitamin B12 and pernicious anemia–the dawn of molecular medicine,” N. Engl. J. Med., vol. 370, no. 8, pp. 773–776, 2014. Click here to read.
  • This article discusses the history of research on pernicious anemia as well as how past studies have implemented changes in diet to treat the disease.

About the Creator:

This video was produced by a student in the Rice Bioengineering Class of 2023 (used with permission).