Using tracer kinetics of 24NaCl and 3H2O, the influence of surgical intervention on the volumes of body water compartments and the rate of transcapillary sodium exchange were investigated in ten patients without any electrolyte imbalance and azotemia.
Effects of surgical intervention were as follows.
1) Reduction of the plasma volume was 27.3 per cent in average.
2) No significant differences were noted in the volumes of extracellular water, interstitial water, rapidly and slowly equilibrating sodium spaces, intracellular water and total body water.
3) The rate constant of the sodium from plasma to interstitial water increased 28.0 percent in average. However, no remarkable difference was found in the transcapillary sodium exchange per minute per kilogram of the body weight.
