Document M4wDYMvZEBZ9rRkR1Gna351D9

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N ovem b er J7 , 1958 D r . D. F . Lau gen ou r 4 333 L em m on D allas, Texas D ear Doctor Laugen our: t am sen din g you h erew ith a sh eet on which som e of ou r an aly t ical data w ere gath ered togeth er som e t im e ago. We h ave had occasion to determ in e the lead content of the t issu e s of a n um ber of fatally poison ed ch ildren sin ce th ese data w ere asse m b le d , and so th e r e su lt s I san d ycu ar e not com plete. Th ey a r e r ep r ese n t at ive , h ow ever. I call you r atten tion with p ar t icu lar e m p h asis to the lead con ten t of th e b r ain , on the one h an d, and the sk elet on , on th e oth er . In clin ical lead en ceph alopath y which, r e su lt e d fat ally , we h ave n ever faile d to fin d sign ifican t ly high le v e ls of lead con cen tr ation in the b r ain , an d I have com e to regard th is as an im portan t featu re of the d ise ase . A lit t le while ago w& h ad a c a se which th e clin ician s (exp er ien ced m en ) believed to be lead en ceph alopath y. The brain con tained only sligh tly m ore lead than docs the n orm al b r ain . (As I rem em b er it, the fin ding w as 0 .1 4 m g. p e r 100 gr a m s of fr e sh b r ain , but in an y c a se , it w as on ly a lit t le above 0,10, w h er eas 0 .0 8 m g. p e r 100 gr am s is in the upper n orm al r a n ge .) I could not say th at th is w as not a case of lead poison in g, but I e xp r e sse d se r io u s doubts* on th e b a sis of th e an aly t ical eviden ce. Carefu l exam in ation of the brain and b r ain stem d isclo sed the lesion s of poliom yelitis. In the m at t e r of th e fin din gs in the sk eleton , th e con cen tration of lead in the bon es and the relation sh ip betw een th at in flat on es and th at in th e long b on es, can be c o r r e la t e d with th e se v e r it y and th e d u r at ion of th e e xp osu r e in w ell docum en ted c a se s. Whan, t h e r e fo r e , on e h as cer tain fin din gs, he can u se th ese to cut th rough the ob scu r ity of th e h ist or y of exp osu r e. Often th e fact a can be est ab lish ed with ever y reason able assu r an ce. It w as a p le asu r e to see you in Ch icago, Le t it be soon again . N13938 Cordially you rs, 003.2104 R AK ef Robert A . Keh oe, M .D . P . S. We h ave d ata th at en able u s to d et er m in e th e t ot al lead the case s listed RAK H 0012 Vi J