Abstract
If the signs and symptoms following parathyroidectomy are the result of an intoxication, as some investigators believe (Paton, Findlay, Watson, Burns, Sharpe, et all), a vigorous diuresis if more or less continously maintained by means of the intravenous injections of physiological saline solutions might prevent the onset of tetany or rapidly lead to a disappearance of all symptoms of tetany if the tetany was first allowed to develop, providing the poison or poisons responsible for the condition were water-soluble and were excreted by the kidneys.
Dogs were accordingly injected intravenously two or three times daily with ordinary Ringer's solution following thyropara-thyroidectomy. All injections were made with a Woodyatt pump delivering 42 c.c. per minute. The animals received 33 c.c. or more per kilo body weight at each injection. In some animals calcium-free Ringer's solution was injected from the start. In others, we changed from ordinary Ringer's solution to a calcium-free Ringer's solution to study the importance of the calcium ion in the Ringer's solution. The animals were fed a mixed diet consisting chiefly of meat.
Our chief results can be enumerated as follows:
1. By maintaining a brisk diuresis by means of intravenous injections of Ringer's solution it is possible to keep dogs alive indefinitely (at least two months) even when fed daily on a diet consisting chiefly of meat. The animals usually remain in a good state of nutrition. We have one animal which survived complete parathyroidectomy 51 days. In this animal we could induce symptoms of marked parathyroid tetany (hyperpnoea, anorexia, spasticity, tremors, and mild clonic convulsions) at will by stopping the injections and feeding the animal meat. Other animals have been kept alive for 14, 17, and 31 days, As far as we know they died because of an inability on our part to introduce enough Ringer's solution to maintain a vigorous diuresis.
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