Zinc deficiency in cirrhosis.

adenosine deaminase estimation in the diagnosis of tuberculous ascites. Reply SIR,-We acknowledge the pertinent points raised by Lingenfelser and Marks. When our paper was submitted we thought that the role of ascitic adenosine deaminase in the diagnosis of tuberculous peritonitis'2 needed further investigation. Subsequent evaluations of ascitic adenosine deaminase in tuberculous peri-tonitis3'4 have shown high diagnostic sensitivities. We therefore accept that this determination is an important investigatory option in the diagnosis of peritoneal tuberculosis. The role of peritoneoscopy therefore seems to be limited to equivocal adenosine deaminase results where there is high clinical suspicion of tuber-culous peritonitis or cases where malignant ascites is suspected.