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A STUDY OF THE COLLOID OSMOTIC PRESSURE OF BLOOD SERUM AND OF ASCITIC FLUID IN VARIOUS DISEASES OF THE LIVER

HUGH R. BUTT, M.D.; ALBERT M. SNELL, M.D.; ANCEL KEYS, Ph.D.

Arch Intern Med. 1939;63(1):143-155.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

Determination of the serum protein content is supposed to give a fairly accurate estimate of the colloid osmotic pressure of the blood serum. However, the frequent finding of normal levels for serum protein in the examination of patients with marked ascites and edema suggested that the usual protein determination is an inadequate measurement of the osmotic conditions at the capillary membrane and cannot be used to predict the effective osmotic pressure. It was found that measurement of the colloid osmotic pressure gave better knowledge of these physical processes and in many instances explained the presence of indeterminable edema and ascites. Variations in the values for serum albumin and globulin in hepatic disease have been recognized for more than thirty years. Grenet¹ and Gilbert and Chiray² were among the first to note decrease in concentration of total protein among patients with cirrhosis of the liver, and their observation was . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
ROCHESTER, MINN.

From the Division of Medicine of the Mayo Clinic (Drs. Butt and Snell) and the Division of Biochemistry of the Mayo Foundation (Dr. Keys).

Footnotes
Now Associate Professor of Medicine and Education, University of Minnesota.

This work was done in the Division of Biochemistry of the Mayo Foundation, and this paper represents part of the work for which the John Horsley Memorial Prize for 1938 was awarded to Dr. Butt by the University of Virginia.