Thomas Addison - Diseases Addison Described

Diseases Addison Described

Addison is known today for describing a remarkably wide range of diseases. His name has entered into the annals of medicine and is part of the name of a number of medical disorders, including:

• Addison's disease, sometimes called bronze skin disease - progressive destruction of the adrenal glands with the result being deficiency of secretion of adrenocortical hormones. Addison described this condition in his 1855 publication: On the Constitutional and Local Effects of Disease of the Suprarenal Capsules.
• Addisonian crisis (or Addison's crisis) - an acute, life-threatening crisis caused by Addison's disease.
• Addisonism - a set of symptoms resembling Addison's disease but not due to Addison's disease, that is, not due to any disease of the adrenal glands.
• Addisonian anemia or Addison-Biermer disease - now synonymous with pernicious anemia which involves Vitamin B12 deficiency. Described first in 1849.
• Addison-Schilder syndrome is a metabolic disorder combining the characteristics of Addison’s disease (bronze skin disease) and cerebral sclerosis Also known as Adrenoleukodystrophy.

Addison gave one of the first adequate accounts of appendicitis and wrote a valuable study of the actions of poisons. He also made seminal contributions to the recognition and understanding of many other diseases, including;

• Alibert's disease I - a skin disease characterized by pinkish patches, bordered by a purplish halo
• Allgrove's syndrome - a congenital defect in lacrimation
• Rayer's disease - a disorder characterized by depigmented patches of skin, jaundice, and enlargement of the liver and spleen