Abstract
Attention has been drawn to the fact that there are more cases of mild type than of serious type in acute pancreatitis, and there is a marked increase in the number of reports published on this theme. In Japan, however, we have still comparatively few of such reports. The author handled 103 cases of acute pancreatitis in the past 5 years, and conducted a statistical study of its incidence, clinical signs and symptoms, etc. As aresult, he realized that in rural areas there also existed not a few cases of that disease and that round worms frequently played an important role in it. In diagnosing acute pancreatitis, values of serum and urinary amylase are usually measured. But, in view of the fact that the values of urinary amylase rise or fall sensitively in keeping with the course of general clinical signs and symptoms, and that specimens are more easily collected, frequent measurement of amylase values in urine should be recommended as the better of the two.
There are a variety of ways of measuring amylase values, but the techniques are not always simple. Besides, any and every one of them requires renewal of the starch solution reagent at each test. As a device to remove this technical obstacle, the author thought out a new method in which a specially prepared long-keeping “starch tube” was used. Report II is written about this method. The values obtained by this new method were compared with those obtained by the Wohlgemuth method the values obtained by the two methods showed satisfactory congruity with one another. The use of this “starch tube” seems worth recommendation to the general clinicians, as it is easily handled at any place whenever occasion calls for.
