ELLIPTIC ERYTHROCYTES IN MAN

Abstract

In recent years attention has been directed to the fact that the red cells of an apparently healthy person are not necessarily round but may be distinctly elliptic or even sausage shaped. This condition has been recognized as a congenital anomaly, frequently called "ovalocytosis" in spite of the fact that the red cells are not strictly oval. This paper describes the incidence in 3 interrelated families of pure German extraction of 86 members with large numbers of such cells. This is the largest group for which this condition has been reported. In addition, we present features of the anomaly not previously recorded. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE Because reports of this condition have appeared in many languages and are not universally accessible, it seems desirable to present here a fairly complete review of the literature. To Dresbach¹ goes the credit for reporting the first case of the anomaly. A mulatto