Preliminary note on chemical changes in the blood of syphilitics under arsphenamin treatment. 1

Abstract

Among the very few recent publications on the subject of the chemistry of the blood in syphilis before or during arsphenamin therapy, the first is that of Rappleye. 2 He determined the urea of the blood and the phenol-sulphon-phthalein elimination in the urine of a series of twenty paretic cases before, and at intervals of one half, three and twenty-four hours after intravenous administration of diarsenol 3 (0.5 to 0.6 gm.), and also of a series of ten patients who had been under treatment for a long time. He observed fairly normal values (8 to 20 mg. of urea nitrogen per 100 c.c. of blood) in all cases both before and after treatment.

Elliott and Todd 4 made similar studies before and after a course of six weekly intravenous injections of 0.5 gm. of arsphenamin in a series of twenty syphilitic young men without evident renal disturbance. They found the average urea content of the blood to be 30.7 mg. before and 34.4 mg. per 100 c.c. of blood after treatment. One case showed an increase of 19 mg. In another series of nine cases to whom injections were given twice a week with the same total dosage, the average blood urea was 33.7 mg. before and 35.3 mg. after treatment. Five of the nine cases showed increases of from 4 to 5 mg. of urea nitrogen per 100 c.c. of blood.

It is important to note that although these authors had selected cases which clinically or by the albumin test showed no signs of renal disturbance, their values for blood urea nitrogen before injection are more or less pathological and range from 27 to 43 mg. with an average value of 33.7 mg. per 100 C.C. of blood.