Year: 1945
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Many published studies indicate by indirect measurement that fluid is retained during the course of pneumonia.In 1869, the weight and fluid balance of febrile patients, including a num- ber suffering from pneumonia, were studied (1), and it was concluded that water was retained during the course of this disease.Similar con- clusions were reached from studies of weight and serum protein concentration (2), weight alone (3 to 5), elasticity of tissue (6), and decrease in freezing point depression of serum ( 7).Some authors (8) studied the blood volume, by the method of Keith, Rowntree, and Geraghty ( 9), in 14 children suffering from "primary pneu- monia" and calculated that the blood volume was increased as compared to normal standards for children of the same weight.In contrast, others (10) reported that the plasma volume as measured by the Congo red method was within normal limits in 65 patients with primary pneu- monia.No control measurements were made in either study following recovery from the disease.In a review of the literature, no studies on extracellular fluid volume in pneumonia were found.The present study was made on adult patients suffering from pneumococcus lobar pneumonia or bronchopneumonia.Plasma volume meas- urements were made on 52 patients of whom 46 recovered (Table I) and 6 died (Table VII).Measurements of the size of the "extravascular thiocyanate space" were made on 26 of the 46 recovered patients and on 5 of the fatal cases.All patients had definite symptoms and signs of pneumonia.The presence of pneumonia was confirmed by at least one x-ray photograph of the chest or by autopsy.The sputum and blood of every patient was examined bacteriologically.
DOI: 10.1172/jci101571
Authors: David D. Rutstein, K. Jefferson Thomson, Daniel M. Tolmach, William H. Walker, Robert J. Floody
Language: English
Subfield: Epidemiology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2057549122