Abstract
This experiment was undertaken to determine the effects of large amounts of dog's gastric juice on a patient suffering with pernicious anemia. Castle and Townsend 1 previously had shown that 300 cc. of human gastric juice administered daily for a 10-day period did not improve the patient symptomatically nor produce any change in the blood picture. Because the amount of gastric juice secreted each 24 hours by man is far in excess of the 300 cc. used, it was thought worth while to repeat the procedure with larger doses.
For this experimental work pure, crystal clear dog's gastric juice was used. This was procured in large quantities from Dragstedt 2 at whose suggestion the experiment was performed. He had obtained the juice in a previous work by creating a pouch of the entire stomach of the dog in such a way as to avoid injury of the fibers of the vagus or of the blood supply. The analysis of the product showed a free HCl of 0.45%; total HCl, 0.5%; total chlorides, 0.55%, and pepsin 150 units.
The patient used in this experiment was Mr. S., Unit No. 18523, age 59, admitted to the Billings Hospital on January 20th, 1930, complaining of shortness of breath after slight exertion of 9 months'duration, numbness and tingling of his hands and feet, moderately severe nocturia and slight nausea following meals for a month preceding admission. These symptoms were associated with a progressive weakness during the past 5 months.
The physical examination revealed the following essential features: White male, apparently 65 years of age, with facial evidence of marked loss of weight, decided lemon-yellow tint of the skin and sclera and with only a slight impairment of the gait.
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