THE EFFECT OF ANESTHETICS ON HEPATIC FUNCTION

The hazard of operative procedures in patients with diseased livers suggested the desirability of determining the state of hepatic function before subjecting such patients to the combined risk of anesthesia and operative trauma. Rosenthal and Bourne¹ have pointed out that the changes which anesthetics produce in the liver undoubtedly occur also in most other organs and are but a reflection of the widespread depression of cell activity resulting from certain anesthetics. The appraisal of the functional capacity of the liver is formidable because of the multiplicity and diversity of its functions. The various functional tests thus far available could do no more than reflect the state of one of these functions. A satisfactory answer to the query therefore could be reached only through study of several of the hepatic functions. There is, however, no correlation between the type of pathologic lesion present in the liver and the function that