EXPERIENCE WITH THE ABDERHALDEN SERUM 

 TEST FOR PREGNANCY. 



JACOB ROSENBLOOM 

 (Biochemical Laboratory of the Western Pennsylvania Hospital, Pittsburgh, Pa.) 



An enormous literature has already developed since Abderhal- 

 den's publication relative to the serum diagnosis of pregnancy. 

 Many have doubted the value of the test while others have found it 

 of great virtue and rehabihty. Shortly after Abderhalden's de- 

 scription of the test I began to use it. I have been uniformly suc- 

 cessful in its appHcation, and am firmly convinced of its rehabihty 

 for the diagnosis or ehmination of pregnancy. 



In applying the test I have followed Abderhalden's directions 

 minutely and have always set up three tests for each serum, viz., 

 serum alone, placenta alone and serum with placenta ; and, of late, I 

 have also included a positive control and a negative control.^ This is 

 advisable on account of the fact that serum alone will often give a 

 positive reaction, especially if the serum is obtained at any time 

 within 8 hours after the last previous meal. For that reason I 

 examine, at present, only sera obtained in the morning before 

 breakfast. 



In the summary on the succeeding page, I have tabulated certain 

 of my results with this test, which show its reliability and value. In 

 tests 39-50, the recorded positive or negative results were verified, at 

 later dates, by the appearance or non-appearance of absolute signs 

 of pregnancy, or by Operation; the positive results were found to 

 be coincident with pregnancy. 



In this work I have used the dialysis method entirely, and both 

 the biuret and ninhydrin tests were applied to the dialysate in each 

 case. 



1 Füll descriptions of the technic may be found in Abderhalden's Abwehr- 

 fermente des tierischen Organismus (1913), and in Webster's Diagnostic methods 

 (1914, p. 613.) 



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