The application of multicompartmental analysis to problems of clinical medicine. Combined clinical staff conference at the National Institutes of Health.

Abstract

This combined Clinical Staff Conference presents the mathematical basis and the investigational techniques and tools of compartmental analysis in the study of calcium, bilirubin, and immunoglobulin metabolism, with examples of studies in disease states and discussion of limitations. The dynamics of bilirubin metabolism are illustrated with data from normals and from patients with Gilbert's disease, Dubin-Johnson syndrome, and cirrhosis. Calcium metabolism and its hormonal regulation are discussed in the light of studies in normals and hypoparathyroid patients. Data from normals and patients with disorders of immunoglobulin catabolism (myotonic dystrophy, ataxia telangiectasia, etc.), loss (for example, intestinal lymphangiectasia), and decreased immunoglobulin synthesis illustrate analysis of immunoglobulin metabolism.