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Investigation into the Aetiology and Treatment of Pica

1959; BMJ; Volume: 34; Issue: 174 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1136/adc.34.174.140

1468-2044

Philip Lanzkowsky,

Therapeutic Uses of Natural Elements

The name pica is derived from the Latin word meaning magpie.In reviewing the literature no adequate definitions are to be found.Those of Hubrigkt (1562) and Schrey (1719), as quoted by Cooper (1957), are antiquated and of historical interest only.Pica could be described as a perver- sion of appetite with persistent and purposeful ingestion of unsuitable substances, seemingly of no nutrient value.It is associated with the passage of these substances unchanged in the stool, and with radiological evidence of their presence in the gut when they are radio-opaque.Pica is world-wide in distribution, and occurs at all ages.Each individual or local group seems to specialize in one direction, eating only a particular type of material.Many small children, at some time in early life, put in their mouths and occasionally swallow inedible matter, but this is so well recognized that it causes only the mildest of domestic upsets.Even if an occasional individual does so repeatedly, medical advice is not sought unless the performance in this respect becomes spectacular.The purpose of this paper is to report on a series of children suffering from pica.My attention was drawn to pica by a casual remark passed by the mother of' a boy who was being treated for hypochromic anaemia, that since the commencement of iron medication the boy had stopped eating dirt.For centuries writers have recorded observations on pica, but the most recent reports, however, still left the matter of therapy an unsolved problem.The earliest writers centred their attention on the condition as it affected pregnant women.