FATAL MYXEDEMA, WITH AND WITHOUT COMA

Article1 September 1960FATAL MYXEDEMA, WITH AND WITHOUT COMAJOHN F. NICKERSON, S. RICHARDSON HILL JR., M.D., JEAN H. MCNEIL, M.D., SAMUEL B. BARKER, Ph.D.JOHN F. NICKERSON, S. RICHARDSON HILL JR., M.D., JEAN H. MCNEIL, M.D., SAMUEL B. BARKER, Ph.D.Author, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-53-3-475 SectionsAboutPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail ExcerptINTRODUCTIONRelatively few cases of terminal myxedema, especially of myxedema coma, have been reported. The first report of fatal hypothermic coma appeared in 1879.1 The condition was also described in 1888, in the report on myxedema of the Clinical Society of London.2 However, it was not brought to general attention until 1953, when six cases were reported in two series.3, 4 Twenty-four additional case reports have appeared in the last six years.5-21 It is noteworthy that 13 of the 30 case reports have been in four series.In contrast to the scarcity of reported cases of terminal myxedema, during the...Bibliography1. Ord WM: Cases of myxedema, Tr. Clin. Soc. London 13: 15, 1879-1880. Google Scholar2. Report of a Committee of the Clinical Society of London to investigate the subject of myxedema, Supplement to Vol. 21 of the Clinical Society's Transactions, 1888, Longmans, Green & Co., London. Google Scholar3. Summers VK: Myxoedema coma, Brit. M. J. 2: 366, 1953. CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar4. Le MarquandHausmannHemsted HSWEH: Myxoedema as a cause of death, Brit. M. J. 1: 704, 1953. 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J. 1: 1214, 1952. CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar47. SheehanSummers HLVK: Syndrome of hypopituitarism, Quart. J. Med. 18: 319, 1949. MedlineGoogle Scholar This content is PDF only. To continue reading please click on the PDF icon. Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAffiliations: Birmingham, Alabama*Received for publication March 23, 1960.From the Division of Metabolism and Endocrinology, the Departments of Medicine and Pharmacology and the University Hospital, University of Alabama Medical Center, and the Medical Service, Veterans Administration Hospital, Birmingham, Alabama.†This investigation was supported in part by a grant, 2A-5053, from the National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland.‡Student Fellow, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland.§Trainee, National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland.Requests for reprints should be addressed to S. Richardson Hill, Jr., M.D., Associate Professor of Medicine, The University of Alabama Medical Center, Medical College of Alabama, Birmingham 3, Alabama. 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