Pharmacogenetics

Abstract

Dr. Richard Miller, Senior Assistant Resident in Medicine, Jewish Hospital of St. Louis, and Assistant in Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine: A 32-year-old, Negro woman was admitted to the Jewish Hospital for the first time on Aug 4, 1967, because of a ten months' history of diffuse abdominal pain, which had begun after the delivery of her eighth child. The pain was gnawing, occasionally sharp, and resistant to all medication. The patient also had had anorexia, hematemesis, and a 40.9-kg (90-lb) weight loss. The hematocrit reading was 39% on her clinic visit of July 27, when treatment with prochlorperazine (Compazine), chloral hydrate, and an analgesic (Darvon Compound) was started. She had been hospitalized in 1960 and 1967 for psychiatric illnesses. Physical examination on admission was completely unremarkable. Hematocrit value was 33%, white blood cell count was 7,200/cu mm, and differential count was normal, platelets were adequate, reticulocyte count was