[Bioclinical study of the electro-immunodiffusion technic for the assay of serum alpha fetoprotein]

The author discusses the result that may be expected in clinical medicine from an electro-immunodiffusion method for the detection of alpha-foetoprotein. The samples studied were obtained from pregnant women, patients with liver cell carcinoma or severe digestive diseases, whether malignant or not, and a few amniotic fluids and sera obtained from the umbilical cord. This simple, rapid method is characterized by a sensitivity threshold of about 300 ng/ml and permits one to detect about 75% of cases of liver cell carcinoma.