Abstract
The cases of acute leukemia in which the nitrogen balance has been studied have shown a marked nitrogen loss. Ebstein,1 in 1889, reported a case which showed a twenty-four hour urea excretion of 62.7 gm. Magnus Levy,2 in 1898, reported three cases. The first had a negative nitrogen balance of 24.8 gm. in forty hours, the second a negative balance of 85.4 gm. in seven days; the third, in which nitrogen intake was not calculated, a urinary nitrogen which averaged 21 gm. a day for seven days. Edsall,3 in 1905, found in his case a negative nitrogen balance of 22.2 gm. in twenty-four hours. We have not seen observations on the basal metabolism in acute leukemia, nor have we seen observations on the effect of radiation on the basal or nitrogenous metabolism of patients suffering from this disease. Patients with chronic leukemia almost invariably show an increased basal metabolic rate.4

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