Oral Vitamin B12 Administration for Vitamin B12 Deficiency After Total Gastrectomy

Pernicious anemia develops in 50% of total gastrectomized due to gastric cancer patients. Lack of intrinsic factor, which is secreted by parietal cell from stomach wall causes deficiency of cobalamin, which, in final, causes pernicious anemia. Thus, patients who had undergone total gastrectomy needs to be provided externally with cobalamin. Until now, intramuscular injection of cyanocobalamin has been the choice of treatment for cobalamin deficiency, but it has demerits in that it causes discomfort of coming to the hospital to get an injection, and in its high costs. However, in pernicious anemia in old age and absorption disorder patients, it has been reported that oral administration of cobalamin had effect of elevating serum vitamin B12. Thus, this study was designed to prove the effect of oral administration of vitamin B12 in total gastrectomized patients with cobalamin deficiency.