Gastro-Intestinal Studies. Vii. The Excretion of Xylose in Pernicious Anemia

Use of labelled triolein, vitamin A, and D-xylose in the diagnosis of malabsorption

“…While Legerton, Texter, and Ruffin (1953) found flat vitamin A curves in steatorrhoea, Culver (1957) and Hillman and Becker (1957) noted abnormal results in normal persons, similar to those found in patients with anaemia or endocrinopathies in this study. Abnormal xylose excretion had been noted in patients older than 65 years (Fowler and Cooke, 1960) and in patients with pernicious anaemia (Helmer and Fouts, 1937;Bezman, Kinnear, and Zamcheck, 1959), and Butterworth, Perez-Santiago, Martinez de Jesus and Santini (1959) noted abnormal xylose excretion in patients with pernicous anaemia but not in those with irondeficiency anaemia. The present study emphasizes the occurrence of these falsely abnormal results in patients with both types of anaemia and in some endocrine disorders.…”

Malabsorption of small doses of castor oil in patients without steatorrhoea.

“…Anaemia, with the associated tissue hypoxia, interferes with cellular and enzymatic activity. Xylose absorption is impaired in pernicious anaemia (Helmer and Fouts, 1937;Bezman, Kinnear, and Zamcheck, 1959;Fowler and Cooke, 1960). Iron deficiency of a chronic and severe degree has long been known to be associated with gastric atrophy (Witts, 1930) and various degrees of chronic gastritis and gastric atrophy have been demonstrated in about 74% of patients with iron-deficiency anaemia (Davidson and Markson, 1955).…”

Absorção intestinal de D-xilose em crianças infectadas pelo vírus da imunodeficiência humana

“…Trata-se de teste simples e barato que vem sendo utilizado por mais de 40 anos (24) . Em 1937, HELMER e FOUTS (36) sugeriram que a absorção da xilose refletia a absorção intestinal de carboidrato no intestino humano. Posteriormente, ROLSTON e MATHAN (63) demonstraram que a absorção da xilose é processo passivo, refletindo a área absortiva total do jejuno ao invés da absorção de carboidrato em si.…”