The blood pyruvic acid level in renal diseases and in uraemic coma.

In the course of investigating the blood pyruvic acid levels we examined, amongst others, comatose patients with renal failure due to chronic nephritis and found the level to be normal. This finding was in contrast with that of high blood pyruvic acid levels in patients in coma due to other causes, e.g., hepatic (Snell and Butt, 1941 ; Amatuzio and Nesbitt, 1950; Carfagno, De Horatius, and Schwarz, 1953; Kleeberg and Gitelson, 1953), diabetic (Meyer, 1948 ; Boulin and Meyer, 1949), cerebral (Gitelson and Tiberin, 1952), and seemed to be of diagnostic value. Therefore, the study of blood pyruvic acid concentration was extended to include a greater number of patients with renal diseases and also to patients with urological disorders liable to affect renal function.