Pernicious anemia pathophysiology

Vitamin B₁₂ cannot be produced by the human body, and must therefore be obtained from diet. Normally, dietary vitamin B₁₂ can only be absorbed by the ileum when it is bound by the intrinsic factor produced by parietal cells of the gastric mucosa. In pernicious anaemia, this process is impaired because of loss of parietal cells, resulting in insufficient absorption of the vitamin, which over a prolonged period of time ultimately leads to vitamin B₁₂ deficiency and thus megaloblastic anaemia.

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