STUDIES OF HEPATIC FUNCTION BY THE QUICK HIPPURIC ACID TEST

Abstract

In two previous communications¹ we have discussed the value of the Quick hippuric acid test of hepatic function in the treatment of hepatic and biliary disease and of thyroid disease. In this communication we shall consider it in connection with the general problems of surgery. We are increasingly of the opinion that the role of the liver in all types of surgical disease is more important than is generally suspected, and we are in hearty accord with the writers—they are relatively few—who make the point that it is quite as important to consider the liver in evaluating the surgical risk as it is to consider the heart, the kidneys and the lungs. In our first paper on the subject of "liver death," which was written in 1934, we said: Our experimental study has not yet progressed to the point at which we feel that we can make suggestions of