[Index of the functional state of the liver]

A combination of laboratory tests, providing the most valuable quantitative assessment of hepatic function at large was selected with the aid of an EC-1020 computer on the basis of the investigation of 124 hepatic patients and 15 normal subjects. This combination was termed the hepatic functional index (HFI); it was determined by the PTI (prothrombin index) to RETk (blood Bengal rose retention) ratio, expressed as a percentage. Quantitative criteria of normal and abnormal hepatic activity, with subdivisions by severity, have been proposed on the basis of HFI estimations in patients with varying degrees of hepatic failure and in normal subjects.