COMPARATIVE STUDIES ON THE METACHROMATIC REACTION IN URINE, MARUYAMA's CARBOL REACTION AND CADMIUM REACTION IN SERUM

Abstract

Our department had already reported that the metachromatic reaction in urine (referred to as “MR” hereafter) which was originated by Nagata and Yamamoto in 1953 proved positive specifically in tuberculous patients. The present author previously reported a study of the “MR” which was performed on healthy subjects and patients with Pulmonary tuberculosis. At that time he stated that the “MR” test could be applied to prognosis since patients with pulmonary tuberculosis presented the positive “MR” at a high rate and since the severer the intensity of the disease is, the more positive the “MR” is. He added that the healthy subjects presented the positive “MR” at a low rate. For the diagnosis and prognosis of tuberculous patients, Maruyama's carbol reaction (referred to as “Maruyama's reaction” hereafter) and the cadmium reaction in serum (referred to as “cadmium reaction” hereafter) were performed on 58 healthy subjects and 139 patients with pulmonary tuberculosis who were nospitalized for medical attention. At the same time the “MR” was used on them for comparative study of these three reactions. The “MR”, Maruyama's reaction and cadmium reaction proved positive in 6 (10.3%), 5 (8.6%) and 26 (44.8%) out of the 58 healthy subjects, respectively. The X² test of these results revealed that the “MR” and Maruyama's reaction made more significant differences than the cadmium reaction. Out of the 139 patients with pulmonary tuberculosis, 74 (53.2%), 62 (44.6%) and 94 (67.6%) presented the positive “MR”, positive Maruyama's reaction and the positive cadmium reaction, respectively. As a result of the X² test, it could be demonstrated that the “MR” and Maruyama's reaction made more significant differences than the cadmium reaction. Regarding the relationship between the intensity of pulmonary tuberculosis and these three reactions, the more is the intensity, the higher is the positive rate; the cadmium reaction has nothing to do with the intensity of the disease. From a viewpoint of inductive statistics, the correlationship existed only between the “MR” and Maruyama's reaction. From the foregoing experimental results it was concluded that the “MR” together with Maruyama's reaction could be utilized for diagnosis and prognosis of pulmonary tuberculosis.