Abstract
Blood pyruvic acid concentration was determined in 34 portal hypertention cases. The obtained values were higher than those usually found in healthy subjects, and could hardly be lowered by injection of thiamine but injection of cocarboxylase was sometimes effective in reducing them. After a prolonged liver protection treatment, the lowering effect of cocarboxylase became eminent except for 7cases which showed no response to the injection of cocarboxylase. When porta-caval anastomosis was performed, the pyruvic acid values in the blood were elevated remarkably in all cases. In cases with mild elevation it could be decreased by a prolonged supply of thiamine or cocarboxylase, but not in cases with considerable elevation. The cases in which high pyruvic acid levels showed any response neither to injection of thiamine or cocarboxylase, nor to liver protection treatment before the operation proved always of bad prognosis. Supply of cocarboxylase to patients with Eck-fistula syndrome was sometimes effective.
