BASAL METABOLISM IN CHRONIC MYELOGENOUS LEUKEMIA

Abstract

The basal metabolism in untreated patients with leukemia is characteristically elevated. No other afebrile disease, with the exception of hyperthyroidism, exhibits such a constant increase in heat production by the body. The high level of the metabolism in hyperthyroidism appears to be associated definitely with an increased or altered secretion of the thyroid gland, but the underlying factor or factors which account for this phenomenon in the leukemias still remain a matter for speculation and investigation. Many studies have been made concerning the value of determining the basal metabolic rate in hyperthyroidism, its use as an index of the course of the disease and its relation to the diagnosis and prognosis. On the contrary, observations on the basal metabolism in the leukemias have been much less frequent, and as a large number of patients with this disease are encountered at the Collis P. Huntington Memorial Hospital and at the Peter