CLINICAL EXPERIENCES IN THE USE OF DETERMINATIONS OF BLOOD IODINE

Abstract

In the study of disease of the endocrine glands it is extremely important to be able to determine with accuracy the amounts of hormones present in the body. The results of assays of blood and urine for the amount of estrogenic hormone serve as indexes of the production of ovarian follicular hormone.¹ Assay for testicular hormone in the urine is of considerable assistance in the diagnosis of hypogonadism in the male,² and the estimation of the amount of the gonadotropic hormone in the blood and urine by various methods gives a means of estimating the activity of the pituitary gland.³ The value for blood iodine may be used as a direct indication of the activity of the thyroid gland. Various methods have been described by which determinations of blood iodine may be made. Modifications of the von Fellenberg technic⁴ have been used successfully, but the method