Intestinal absorption test with the use of D-xylose II. Its application on patients with various liver diseases

An intestinal absorption test with the use of D-xylose has been performed on 19 patients including 3 of acute hepatitis, 7 of chronic hepatitis and 9 of liver cirrhosis, and the following results were obtained. 1) The 5 hr urinary excretion and 2 hr blood level of D-xylose tend to increase in patients of acute and chronic hepatitis with severer disorder of liver functions. 2) The standard deviations of the 5 hr urinary excretion and 2 hr blood level of D-xylose are larger in liver cirrhosis than in the other liver diseases. Those cases having severe disorder of liver functions are found to be diminished in 5 hr urinary excretion and 2 hr blood level of D-xylose. 3) A decrease in the absorption of D-xylose from the small intestine of liver cirrhosis might be caused by the diminished surface area of villi of the small intestine.</p

Intestinal absorption test with the use of D-xylose I. Its application on normal Japanese subjects

Intestinal absorption tests with the use of D-xylose were conducted on 12 healthy Japanese subjects and the following results were obtained. 1) The mean value of the urinary xylose excretion within five hours after an oral administration of 25 g of D-xylose was 8.07 g and standard error of the mean was 0.11. The mean of urinary excretion was higher than most of previous reports. 2) The 5 hr urinary excretion after intravenous administration of 25 g D-xylose in normal subjects was almost equal to that reported by BUTTERWORTH et al. 3) The rate of D-xylose absorption from the intestine of normal Japanese subjects was higher than that in Europe, Canada and U. S. A. 4) The differences in the pattern of the intestinal absorption of D-xylose in normal individuals seemed to originate from different dietary habit continued over the period of many years, especially of carbohydrate contents.</p