The present study is an attempt to interpret the effects of intravenous injections of nonspecific foreign proteins on patients with peptic ulcer. We studied the effect on gastric secretion, hoping to obtain data that might be of value in elucidating the genesis of pain in gastric and duodenal ulcer. We also wish to record our observation of the therapeutic effects of foreign protein in peptic ulcer.
Previous observers reported improvement of symptoms, especially relief from pain, following injections of protein. Pribram1 noted that in forty-two of seventy-seven patients pain stopped immediately at the end of treatment. A month after the injections were stopped, thirtyeight remained free from pain. At the end of eight months, there was subjective cure in thirty-two cases, but in seven of these, although there was no pain, there were pyrosis and a feeling of weight. Pribram analyzed the gastric juice in thirty-one of his cases. Under