THE DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSIS IN PATIENTS ENTERING THE HOSPITAL IN COMA

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Abstract
In the year 1933, 1,167 patients, or 3 per cent of the total hospital admissions, entered the Boston City Hospital in coma. The size of this figure is startling and certainly is greater than is generally appreciated. Since there are many causes of coma which require emergency treatment to save life, for example, diabetes, hyperinsulinism, poisoning, traumatic shock, exsanguination, subdural hematoma, brain tumor, meningitis and eclampsia, the importance of immediate diagnosis is evident. Textbook articles on coma1discuss the subject in a general and abstract way without special regard to the practical problems involved. The literature in the journals2is on the whole subject to the same criticism, although a few authors3have attempted to aid the practitioner in the diagnosis of coma of unknown cause. In no case, however, have the actual conditions found in comatose patients been analyzed with the purpose of obtaining information of

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