Hepatitis-associated antigen and antibody in haemodialysis patients and staff.

The screening of a dialysis population for the presence of hepatitis-associated antigen (H.A. antigen) has proved to be of value in locating a probable source of infection and in terminating an outbreak of hepatitis by early detection of H.

Immunological and histological studies in primary biliary cirrhosis.

Thirty-one patients with primary biliary cirrhosis in whom adequate histological liver material was available were studied by immunological and histological methods. There was no statistically significant correlation between individual histological features and the level of serum mitochondrial antibodies. A relationship between the duration of symptoms and histological stage of the disease supports the present concept of its evolution.

Immunoglobulin-containing cells in the liver.

Liver samples from sixty-four patients with hepato-biliary diseases, and from twenty-three with miscellaneous (primarily non-hepatic) conditions, were examined by the fluorescent antibody technique for mononuclear cells containing immunoglobulins G, A, M and D. Immunoglobulin-containing cells (`Ig-cells') were found not only in liver diseases but also in non-hepatic diseases. IgA was the predominant cell type in liver diseases, except in primary biliary cirrhosis where IgM was the main cell type.

Differential ferrioxamine test in haemochromatosis and liver diseases.

The effect of desferrioxamine is examined in more than 100 patients with liver disease, including haemochromatosis, using the differential ferrioxamine test. The procedure gives a reasonably accurate estimate of the size of the iron stores, as determined by multiple venesection, in patients with idiopathic haemochromatosis. Since desferrioxamine is not specific for storage iron, unequivocally abnormal results are not obtained unless the iron load exceeds about 2.