Diabetic Ketosis: Elevated Serum Glutamic-Oxaloacetic Transaminase (SGOT) and Other Findings Determined by Multi-channel Chemical Analysis

Twelve-channel chemical analysis (sodium, potassium, chloride, CO2, total protein, albumin, calcium, alkaline phosphatase, total bilirubin, urea nitrogen, glucose, and glutamicoxaloacetic transaminase [SGOT] was performed on sera from fifty-five of sixty-one cases of diabetic ketosis hospitalized over a two-year period. The cases represented consecutive admissions and were not selected for severe ketoacidosis. Abnormalities of the serum sodium, potassium, chloride, CO₂, calcium, urea nitrogen and glucose generally conformed to recognized patterns, and abnormalities of the total protein, albumin, alkaline phosphatase, and total bilirubin were noted in a minority of cases. In contrast, the SGOT was elevated in 69 per cent of all cases and in 82 per cent of those in whom the determination was performed on the day of admission. Elevation of the SGOT in ten of eleven patients with hepatomegaly and the relationship between elevations of the SGOT and elevations of the serum glutamic-pyruvic transaminase and lactic dehydrogenase, as well as the recognized occurrence of fatty infiltration of the liver in uncontrolled diabetes, are consistent with an hepatic origin for the elevated SGOT found in patients with diabetic ketosis.