Post-cricoid carcinoma in patients with pernicious anaemia.

Post-cricoid carcinoma occurs mainly in women and is often associated with a history of iron-deficiency anaemia. In some cases dysphagia has been present for many years. An association of this type of cancer with pernicious anaemia is not generally recognized. A recent study of 93 cases of post-cricoid carcinoma (Jacobs, 1961a) showed that 29 had suffered from iron-deficiency anaemia and that five were being treated for pernicious anaemia. In two of these five cases the full notes of the original haematological investigations are unobtainable, so that the diagnosis cannot now be fully established. Details of the other cases are reported here and discussed in the light of current views on the aetiology of post-cricoid carcinoma.