THE PLUMMER-VINSON SYNDROME AND CANCER

The Plummer-Vinson syndrome, which appears to occur mostly if not exclusively in women, is characterized by hypochromic anemia, with or without achlorhydria, dysphagia and chronic inflammatory and atrophic changes in the mouth, pharynx and upper end of the esophagus. According to the observations of Ahlbom¹ at Radiumhemmet in Stockholm the syndrome brings with it a special liability to cancer in those structures. As a rule the afflicted women are poorly developed and poorly nourished; weakness and anemia may have existed for years, the first symptoms commonly appearing at the ages of from 18 to 20; sometimes anemia, sometimes dysphagia is the more prominent; in the milder forms the dysphagia may be missed easily by the clinician. All observers agree that, while liver preparations are without curative effect, iron in large doses leads to improvement, even to apparently complete recovery; only too frequently the anemia returns and the dysphagia may