Evening star., 1941-10-01
Each Of Three Anemias
Requires a Different
Method, Doctors Told
Determination Of Cause
Of Condition Held First
Step in Treatment
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

mon anemias, all requiring different
treatments, DR.. Thomas Fitz-Hugh
of the University of Pennsylvania
told the Medical Society of the Dis
trict of Columbia at its annual SCI
entiflc assembly at the Mayflower
today.
Dr. Fitz-Hugh deprecated the
shotgun methods" of treating
anemia patients with iron or liver
preparations without determining
the cause of the condition.
"Anemia, like fever. is not a dis
ease but symptom" he said.
Sometimes 1t is necessary to treat
the symptom, but this does not cure
the disease"
Severe anemia, he pointed out,
may result from loss Of blood. chiefly
through internal bleeding. This is
little benefited by some Of the cur
rent methods of treatment. but re-
Quires curing at the source.
Another Group Needs Liver.
There is another group, DR.. Fitz-
Hugh said, which is caused by
disease or deficiency Of the blood
forming organs, such as the bone
marrow. These include the dreaded
pernicious anemia, which requires
massive doses of liver.
The third group, he pointed out,
includes all conditions in which the
defect is in the blood itself. The
blood cells usually tend to break
down faster than they can be re-
placed. The condition often is
hereditary and this class includes
some of the most hopeless cases.
The non-pernicious types, he
stressed, are helped very little by
liver.
He urged practicing physicians to
keep . constant watch on the blood
condition Of their patients, because
Of the tendency for anemia to de-
velop with few observable symp-
toms.
A practice has grown up, he said,
Of giving iron shots for q general
rundown feeling when actual ex-
animation Of the blood shows 1t in
good conditions.
ONCE Operations Discussed.
The difficulties attending surgical
operations in physicians Office
were stressed by DR.. Charles Stan
ley White, professor of surgery at
George Washington University.
Even what appear to be simple op-
erationS to be done under local
anesthesia, DR.. White said. often
are attended by accidents when per-
formed in an Office without adequate
facilities and projections against
disturbance.
Methods of recognizing common
skin diseases were described by DR..
L. Lewis Sander of Georgetown Uni
versity, and DR.. Oscar B. Hunter
told of newer laboratory procedures
in diagnosis of obscure fevers.
The George Washington Univer-
sity Medical Society held its annual
luncheon at noon. This evening the
Woman's Medical Society will hold
its annual dinner at Doctors Hos
pital
The annual public meeting of the
scientific assembly will be held at
the Mayf1ower tonight. Fiorello H.
La Guardia, director of civilian de-
fense, will speak on health in the
civilian defense program.
Draft Changes Forecast.
DR.. Leonard w. Rowntree. chief
medical officer of the Selective
Service System, told the assembly
yesterday that radical changes in
draft methods are due soon, based
on findings of medical officers of the
Selective Service System.
At present local draft boards are
stated with approximately 27,000
physicians and 5000 dentists whose
duties are to make as careful an
examination as possible. They
throw out about 43 per cent of those
who appear before them. The man
who passes, DR.. Rowntree says, has
every reason to suppose that he Is
due to serve his time in the Army
and throws up his job, sells his farm
and his car. But in a few days he
may be back from the induction
center, rejected for some defect
which the local physician did not
discover, practically ION the street"
Three Experiments Tried.
To remedy this situation, DR..
Rowntree said, the Selective Service
System has carried out three ex-
periments. In one Pennsylvania
district, the present system of rigid
local examination was continued but
. man was assured that after re-
porting at the induction center he
would have a months leave before
starting active service. This gave
him plenty Of time to wind up his
affairs after he had finally been
accepted by the Army.
In Ohio, the experiment has been
made of relieving local boards en-
tirely of physical examinations. All
eligible men were sent directly to
the induction center to be passed
on directly by Army doctors. This
| tends to cause an extreme bottle
neck.
The latest experiment, still under
way in Indiana, is compromise.
The local doctor looks over a man
for gross defects, such as missing
arms or legs, obvious tuberculosis, q
recent record Of insanity, etc. He
does not go into details. If man Is
superficially all right he IS sent to
the induction board. This seems to
have worked best Of all.
| IA aAy AVNnt nN HoVHtHeG