Thorium dioxide and the liver: up-dated clinical and biochemical findings.

In 187 nonselected patients injected with thorium dioxide, clinical and biochemical studies have been done. The more frequent clinical complaints are related to the gastrointestinal pathology (general dyspeptic complaints such as dyspepsia, nausea, vomiting, pain in the right or left upper abdomen). Thirty-three patients died shortly after the onset of jaundice, ascites, and loss of weight; the clinical diagnosis was liver tumor, and in 15 of these cases with an histological examination, the diagnosis of liver tumor was confirmed (five hemangioendotheliomas, eight cholangiocarcinomas, and two hepatomas). Twenty-five other cases also with histological examination of the liver showed hepatic fibrosis. The biochemical tests disclosed serum dysproteinemia (low albumin and increased α2- and γ-globulin) and increased levels of glutamyltranspeptidase and of alkaline phosphatase, very high indeed in the cases with a liver tumor. The search for α-fetoprotein has been negative in all the 28 cases in which it has been possible to perform this test. A correlation has been found between the length of time elapsed after injection and the incidence of abnormal biochemical findings.