Halothane Hepatitis

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To the Editor: We would like to reply to Dr. Dienstag's editorial (July 10 issue) on our paper "Antibodies to the Surface of Halothane-Altered Rabbit Hepatocytes in Patients with Severe Halothane-Associated Hepatitis."The studies of Smith et al. in mice treated with carbon tetrachloride demonstrated that sensitization to a lipoprotein constituent of normal hepatocyte membranes can be secondary to toxic liver injury.1 In contrast, we have shown that an antibody reacting specifically with an antigen in altered rabbit-liver membrane appears as a result of exposure to halothane. The presence of the antibody in patients in whom severe lesions develop after . . .