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WOl CELL HYDRATION INDEX (TBW/Ke RATION): VALUES IN HEALTH AND DISEASE. - J. M. Culebras, F. D. Moore. Department of Surgery, Hospital General Princesa Sofia, Leon, Spain and Harvard Medical School, Boston, U.S.A.

A disprooortionate increase in body water is a characteristic of almost all forms of chronic starvation and d-isease. There are several ways of measuring this increase in water. The most simple is to measure total body water (TBW) and relate it to body weight. However, some sort of internal ratio, independent of body weight is more expressive of the in- creasing hydration of disease. The ratio of TBW to total exchangeable potassium (Ke) expresses the total aqueous environment of the body cell mass. The ratio TBW/Ke, to which we refer as the cell hydration index, appears to be a very sensitive index of the health of the lean tissues of the body. A series of values in various groups of normal men and women and in different diseases are shown in the following table:

Age Weight TBW Ke TBW/Ke

Normal males (n=lO) 23-54 72.5 39.0 3434 0.0113 Normal females (n=lO) 23-51 59.3 28.5 2315 0.0123 Normal males (n=6) 71-84 69.2 35.2 2698 0.0131 Normal females (n=7) 68-74 63.9 27.6 2141 0.0129 Heart disease (n=7) 4Ot16 68.1 37.1 2978 0.0125 Heart disease fem. (n=8) 51T14 49.5 25.2 1574 0.0160 Heart disease & edema

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males (n=9) 62t12 71.9 42.7 2757 0.0155 Heart disease & edema

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females (n=6) 49t14 49.5 31.1 1617 0.0192 Wasting disease males (12) 59T21 51.4 30.0 1930 0.0155 Wasting disease fern (10) 63722 48.9 23.0 3144 0.0171 p values significant between liealthy and sick groups

w02 ESTIMATION OF FAT BODY MASS IN NORMAL WEIGHT PERSONS WITH THREE DIFFERENT METHODS W. Swobodnik, J. G. Wechsler, H. Wenzel, A. Hoch, H.Ditschuneit. Department of Internal Medicine, University of Ulm, GFR

Difficulties in estimation of fat body mass still exist. Different methods have been presented, e. g. A-mode ultrasound, caliper measurements, X-ray diagnosis, electrical resistance determinations and densitometry calculations. In our study ten normal weight persions (5 males, 5 females) have been examined in respect to subcutaneous fat tissue layer respectively total body fat mass. By ultrasound and Harpenden caliper fat tissue thickness has been determined in biceps, triceps, subscapular and suprailiacal sites. The total body fat mass was calculated by densitometry and caliper method. In contrast to recent studies in this examination Real-Time ultrasound B-scan techniques with a 3.5 MHz transducer (fixed focus) have been used avoiding difficulties in determination of the fat- muscle interface. Statistical analysis revealed significant correlation between estimation of fat body mass by the caliper method and ultrasound to densitometry. Ultrasound seems to be a simple method to determine total body fat mass easily, cheaply, acurately and with no harm.

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