Postgastrectomy hypoproteinemia

A patient with severe protein malnutrition following partial gastrectomy is described. Hypoalbuminemia was shown to be due chiefly to reduced hepatic synthesis of albumin and not to loss of albumin into the gut (“protein-losing enteropathy”). The increased fecal nitrogen excretion, which was not directly related to the dietary nitrogen intake, together with the delayed excretion of tritium after the oral administration of H3-labeled albumin, …