American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 19, 219-222, Copyright © 1966 by The American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc.

Protein Loss Into the Gastrointestinal Tract in Cirrhosis of the Liver

¹ From the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21205

The albumin loss into the intestine was determined forty-two times in thirty subjects with cirrhosis of the liver by means of labeling the serum albumin with I¹³¹-albumin and trapping released iodine in the stool with a resin. The loss in the patients was no greater than the loss in six normal subjects. However, the measured catabolic rate and serum albumin level was diminished in most patients. Thus, the normal loss in grams per day represented a larger than normal fraction of the total albumin synthesis or catabolism. There was a positive correlation between the protein loss into the intestine and the severity of the liver disease, the depression of the serum albumin and the elevation of the portal pressure. The loss diminished in six of eight patients studied after portacaval surgery compared to control measurements.