INCIDENCE AND CAUSES OF HYPERPROTEINEMIA

Abstract

We had observed 2 cases of relatively common diseases associated with hyperproteinemia (a case of subacute bacterial endocarditis and a case of cirrhosis and primary carcinoma of the liver).¹ The simultaneous presence of 2 patients with the supposedly rare condition of hyperproteinemia, lying side by side, in a small (200 bed) semiprivate hospital prompted a study of the incidence and the causes of this condition in our climate and locality. This communication presents the results of a clinical-experimental investigation of this subject in a larger series of patients than has hitherto been reported. LITERATURE Jeghers and Selesnick,² summarizing the determinations of total plasma protein made by the clinical laboratories of the Boston City Hospital, reported that the incidence of total protein over 8 Gm. per hundred cubic centimeters was 0.2 per cent of 557 determinations in 1934, 1.19 per cent of 526 determinations in 1935 and 2.4 per