UTILIZATION OF INTRAVENOUSLY INJECTED SODIUM d-LACTATE AS A TEST OF HEPATIC FUNCTION

1 December 1938

journal article
research article
Published by American Medical Association (AMA) in Archives of internal medicine (1960)

Vol. 62 (6) , 918-924
https://doi.org/10.1001/archinte.1938.00180170018002

Abstract

In previous papers we¹ reported on the utilization of sodium d-lactate when injected intravenously into normal persons and into patients with acute diffuse hepatic parenchymal injury. As a result of these observations we suggested that the utilization of this substance be employed as a test of hepatic function in the differentiation between jaundice due to extrahepatic obstruction and jaundice due to hepatic damage.² In the present paper we are reporting on further studies of the utilization of sodium d-lactate as a test for the differentiation of these two forms of jaundice. The rationale for the use of sodium d-lactate was described in the previous reports.¹ The test is dependent essentially on the ability of the intact parenchyma of the liver to convert into glycogen the lactic acid that is circulating in the blood stream. It should again be emphasized that the metabolism of d-lactate is quite different