UREA CLEARANCE TEST AS AN INDEX OF RENAL FUNCTION

Abstract

The material for this study is a series of ninety-four observations of the urea clearance in twenty-one cases of Bright's disease. Ten ward patients and eleven dispensary and office patients are included; the data for the latter group are of importance in the determination of the value of the urea clearance test in the ambulatory subject. The other ten patients were investigated while at complete rest in bed in the wards of the New York Post-Graduate Hospital. Our observations covered a period of ten months. One case of acute diffuse glomerular nephritis, fifteen cases of chronic diffuse glomerular nephritis and five cases of vascular or arteriosclerotic nephritis were investigated. In two cases of chronic diffuse glomerular nephritis, while the patients were under observation, a definite so-called nephrotic component developed, as shown by increasing edema, a high amount of blood cholesterol, marked proteinuria and a low protein content and an inverted