Pernicious anemia revealed by isolated neurologic disorders in young patients without anemia

Introduction. - In young subjects, the discovery of a cobalamine deficiency (Biermer's disease) at the time of neuropsychiatric disorders even of isol ated MRI anomalies is a rare event (less than 0.01%). Exegesis. - We report two observations of cobalamine deficiency, in patient s 30 and 37 years old, revealed by acroparesthesia and spontaneous hypersig nal in the T2 sequence of MRI and by a peripheral sensitive neuropathy resp ectively. Conclusion. - The neuropsychiatric demonstrations of pernicious anemia are polymorphic with, sometimes, isolated spinothalamic attacks. The MRI can co ntribute to the diagnosis but more often leads to an erroneous diagnosis. O ur observations are of special interest because symptoms occurred apart fro m supplementation of folates and recovered ad integrum with an early treatm ent by vitamin B12, (C) 2001 Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier S AS.