METABOLISM STUDIES BEFORE AND AFTER SPLENECTOMY IN CONGENITAL HEMOLYTIC ICTERUS

Abstract

In this communication we present the results of a study of the metabolism, before and after splenectomy, in a child 5 years of age suffering from congenital hemolytic icterus with splenomegaly. As Dr. S. McC. Hamill, to whom we are indebted for the opportunity of making these studies, will, in a later communication, offer a consideration of the clinical and therapeutic problems involved, we will, aside from the metabolic studies, present only a brief abstract of the clinical history, a note on the pathology of the removed spleen and a table (Table 1) of the blood examinations before and after operation. ABSTRACT OF CLINICAL HISTORY At birth, at term, the child weighed 7 pounds and is described as lacking the characteristic red color of the newly born. About twenty-four hours after birth the "alabaster whiteness" of the skin, which the mother describes, changed to a mahogany brown which