CLINICAL APPLICATION OF THE BROMSULPHALEIN TEST FOR HEPATIC FUNCTION

TLDR

The phenoltetrachlorphthalein clearance test, introduced three years ago, has become a widely used and highly specific method for assessing hepatic function. Compared with classic liver function tests, the phenoltetrachlorphthalein clearance test is more specific, less prone to technical error, and provides a quantitative measure of functional impairment that has been validated experimentally and clinically.

Abstract

Since the introduction, three years ago, of a method of estimating hepatic function by determining the rate of removal of phenoltetrachlorphthalein from the blood stream,¹this procedure has been widely used in the clinic. Sufficient experience has been gained to indicate that this method affords several improvements over the classic liver function tests. First, it is specific, and, if properly performed, abnormal results have invariably meant a disturbance in hepatic function. The specificity of a test is a valuable requisite and greatly enhances the clinical reliance that may be placed on it. Secondly, it is comparatively free from technical error and is not difficult to perform. Thirdly, it affords a quantitative measurement of the severity of impaired function. This has been proved experimentally, and clinically it is evidenced in studying cases of acute liver disease (catarrhal and arsphenamin jaundice and eclampsia), in which successive stages of functional repair may