Abstract
Although the diastatic activity of the blood was known as long ago as 1846 1 it was not until Wohlgemuth 2 developed his method of quantitative estimation that the subject began to receive the attention of clinicians. Since that time other more accurate methods have been devised for the micro-estimation of diastase in blood and urine. 3
Clinical experience with the method in the diagnosis of pancreatic disease has led to the conclusion that it is one of the most valuable diagnostic procedures available particularly in acute pancreatitis. 4 Unfortunately, the value of the test is limited by the fact that the rise and subsequent fall in the concentration of the diastase after mechanical obstruction of the pancreatic ducts takes place over a comparatively short period of time, usually 2 to 3 days to attain a maximum height and 10 to 14 days to recede to normal.
With this restriction in mind, it is obvious that normal values many times cannot be satisfactorily interpreted. Not only is this frequently true in the case of acute pancreatitis which may be seen by the clinician too late to obtain evidence of abnormal diastatic activity, but it is commonly the case, with such lesions as chronic pancreatitis, cysts and neoplasms where the diastase determinations are often of little or no value whatever.
Accordingly, the following experiments were carried out in an effort to overcome this inherent difficulty of the test. Dogs varying from 10 to 15 kg in weight were anesthetized with sodium-pentabarbital (nembutal) gr 1/2 per kg of body weight intravenously and local infiltration with 1% solution of novacain. A mid-line abdominal incision was made and a rubber balloon was introduced through an incision in the stomach wall and placed into the duodenum just past the pyloric ring.
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