Study of urinary coproporphyrin excretion in patients with neoplastic diseases

Special Feature American ABSTRACTS

Federation

OF PAPERS

PRESENTED

for Clinical

AT THE NATIONAL MAY

RENAL

CLEARANCE

OF CREATININE

BY

MEETING

M.

PA-

Tyler, M.D.,

National

Salt Lake City, Utah. (From of Medicine,

CITY

Service

Cancer

of Health, and

Medical

the

Institute, U. S. Public

University

of

School.)

Over many months studies on patients without therapy have shown cyclic increases in coproporphyrin urinary excretion. Patients with various neoplastic diseases treated with nitrogen mustard have shown a pronounced coproporphyrinuria within one to three days after intravenous administration of methyl-bis(beta chloroethyl) amine. While the mechanism of coproporphyrin excretion was exhausted by repeated frequent doses of nitrogen mustard in one case, there appeared to be a stoechiometric relationship in some patients so that increased dosage of nitrogen mustard caused an increased coproporphyrin excretion within the ranges of 0.1 to 0.6 mg. per kg. body weight.

MECHANISM RAISE

INVOLVED

THE WHITE

IN THE FAILURE BLOOD

COUNT

TO

WITH

Austin S. Weisberger, M.D., Robert W. Heinle, M.D. and Richard Hannah, M.D. (by invitation) Cleveland, Ohio. (From the Department of TRANSFUSED LEUKOCYTES.

Medicine, School

Western

Reserve

University

of Medicine.)

Failure of blood transfusions to raise the leukocyte count is a common clinical observation. This was studied by transfusing concencentrated suspensions of leukocytes and products of disintegrated leukocytes into rabbits. Leukocyte suspensions were obtained from the peritoneal cavity after distention with physiologic saline. These were concentrated by centrifugain Tyrode’s solution and tion, resuspended transfused into the veins or arteries of the same (autotransfusion) or other (heterotransfusion) rabbits. Leukocytes were disintegrated with su-

STUDY OF URINARY COPROPORPHYRIN ExCRETION IN PATIENTS WITH NEOPLASTIC DISEASES. Howard R. Bierman, M.D., D. 1949

National

Institutes

California

In recent years it has become obvious as the result of a number of studies that the renal clearance of endogenous creatinine is a good measure of glomerular filtration rate in normal individuals and in most patients with nephritis. When this method was used to study the creatine-creatinine metabolism of patients with progressive muscular dystrophy, strikingly low filtration rates were found. When the standard inulin and p-aminohippurate clearances were measured, it was found that the glomerular filtration rate (Cl In), the renal plasma flow (Cl PAH) and the filtration fractions were Simultaneous creatinine clearances, normal. however, ranged from 30 to 70 per cent of the inulin clearance values. Furthermore, the reduction in creatinine clearance showed good correlation with the severity of muscular wasting. The same observation in a less striking degree was made in two patients who had hyperthyroidism with muscular atrophy. The explanation of this apparent discrepancy is not clear. Three hypotheses suggest themselves: First, the creatinine may be found in the serum in some fashion in the presence of certain muscle disorders. Second, the renal handling of creatinine may be different in the dystrophic patient than in the normal. Third, use of the Jaff6 reaction for determination of serum creatinine may have led to falsely high values for serum creatinine in the dystrophic patient as the result of some interfering chromogen in the blood serum.

SEPTEMBER,

the

Health

University

of Utah.)

Michael Crile, M.D.,

IN ATLANTIC

X. Hreno$, B.S. San Francisco, Calif.

(From

Department

HELD

3, 1949

TIENTS WITH MUSCULAR DISEASE. Frank H. the

Research

Louis Strait, Ph.D. and 407