Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to F Perri.
Monoclonal gammopathy has rarely been reported in ankylosing spondylitis. We observed a patient with ankylosing spondylitis and monoclonal gammopathy with no signs of malignancy, chronic infections or amyloidosis. This association may show some possible pathogenetic mechanisms involved in these two different diseases of still uncertain etiology.
The metabolic basis and clinical application of the aminopyrine breath test (ABT) as a measure of liver function is reviewed in this article. Several papers have been published in the 20 years that have elapsed since the test was validated in man by Hepner and Vesell. Nevertheless, even if the aminopyrine breath test has been shown to be a non-invasive, reliable and semiquantitative liver function test with diagnostic and prognostic accuracy, it is not yet extensively used in clinical practice, probably because it is not widely known to clinicians. The aminopyrine breath test, like other newer tests (phenacetin, caffeine and erythromycin breath tests), allows the effects of drugs on hepatic cytochrome P-450 to be explored both in normal subjects and in liver patients. This interesting field of application is sure to expand the appeal of the aminopyrine breath test in the future.