LIPOPENIA ASSOCIATED WITH CHOLESTEROL ESTERSTURZ IN PARENCHYMATOUS HEPATIC DISEASE

Abstract

In 1926 Thannhauser and Schaber,¹ developing the observation made by Feigl about eight years previously, found a considerable decrease in the ratio of ester to total cholesterol of blood in parenchymatous hepatic disease. To this phenomenon they gave the name cholesterol Estersturz and said they considered that it was due to impairment of the liver in a postulated synthesis of cholesterol esters. Since that time controversy has arisen regarding not only the correctness of the interpretation but even the validity of the actual findings in the blood. Most of the clinical evidence pro and con has been reviewed by Gardner and Gainsborough² and by Epstein,³ and the experimental angle has been discussed by Chanutin and Ludewig⁴ in a paper which constitutes a valuable contribution to the subject. Much of the disparity in clinical observations and a good deal of the disparity even in the more controllable