Single-Sample Tests in the Differential Diagnosis of Jaundice.

Many attempts have been made to compare the usefulness of the various tests of liver function. The papers of White and others (1940), Wilson (1940), Higgins and others (1944), Maizels (1946), and Sherlock (1946) discuss the merits of such diverse estimations as bromsulphalein, hippuric acid, and urobilinogen excretion; bilirubin, cholesterol, cholesterol esters, differential proteins, fibrinogen, phosphatase, phospholipins, and prothrombin in serum or plasma; galactose and fructose tolerance; and the cephalin-cholesterol, colloidal red, Takata-Ara, and thymol turbidity tests. It has been difficult to find an independent measure of the degree of liver damage, and even the liver biopsy used by Sherlock and others may not always be satisfactory. If the tests are regarded as empirical aids in specific diagnostic problems, rather than as a means of measuring liver damage, the situation is simplified, though the. evaluation of results must often depend upon the accuracy of clinical