Abstract
All cases of tuberculosis showed reverse hemolysis, i. e., normal serum hemolyzed the patient's corpuscles. In all cases serum heated to 55° C. for ten minutes prevented hemolysis. Sudden chilling of the blood according to the method of Hoover and Stone caused a marked increase in the hemolytic action. Plasma obtained by immediately centrifugalizing the serum caused little or no hemolysis in hemolytic cases.
The hemolytic property reaches its maximum about 24 hours after the blood is drawn.
In the cancer group the cases in which the disease was entirely removed lost their hemolytic property in from 12 to 21 days after operation.
In cases in which an incomplete operation was performed the hemolysins continued indefinitely.
Our conclusion is that hemolysis occurs in a number of diseases. It occurs in great frequency in cancer and tuberculosis. The reaction in tuberculosis is the reverse of that of cancer. From the clinical standpoint hemolysis offers additional evidence which may be used in the diagnosis of cancer and tuberculosis. This evidence is not as yet specific.
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