Abstract
A. FUNCTIONAL CHANGES AFTER REMOVAL OF LIVER TISSUE
The author's method of testing liver function, by determining the rate of removal of phenoltetrachlorphthalein from the blood stream was carried out in a series of 11 normal rabbits and repeated immediately after the removal of varying amounts of hepatic tissue. The relation between the degree of retention of tetrachlorphthalein in the blood and the quantity of liver substance removed was strikingly uniform. Slight deviations that fell within the range of normal variations first appeared when one tenth to one eighth of the liver was removed. The curve of disappearance of tetrachlorphthalein from the serum after 20 per cent of the liver was removed was 3.14 times as high as the average normal curve. Following removal of 81 per cent of the liver the curve was 7.37 times normal, and with the entire liver out it was 12.78 times higher than normal. (The surface area method of comparison of these curves, originated by P. D. Lamson, was employed.) These experiments establish the sensitiveness of the test and show that these results bear a quantitative relation to the amount of liver tissue in normal animals. In any application of these findings it must be borne in mind that these experiments dealt with normal liver tissues, and that the tests were carried out immediately after the removal of liver tissue.
B. LIVER FUNCTION IN SYPHILIS AND IN ARSPHENAMINE JAUNDICE
Hepatic function tests with phenoltetrachlorphthalein were carried out in 22 cases of untreated syphilis in various stages, and in 11 cases of jaundice following arsphenamine therapy. In 14 cases of untreated tertiary syphilis with no manifestations except positive Wasserman reaction, liver function tests with tetrachlorphthalein were normal. In one case of primary syphilis a normal test was obtained.
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