Abstract
CAHAL,1 in 1966, described the occurrence of hemolytic anemia in a patient being treated for hypertension with S,L-alpha-methyldopa. Since then, over 100 reports of positive Coombs test or hemolytic anemia associated with methyldopa therapy have appeared. With the introduction of D,L-dopa and later of levodopa for the treatment of Parkinson's disease, the question arose whether these compounds might provoke similar reactions. Cotzias2 reported in 1969 that four out of 43 patients treated with D,L-dopa and levodopa over a period of 3 1/2 years had shown positive direct Coombs tests without the development of hemolysis.The multicenter collaborative study of levodopa . . .