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LCDR Gary L. Almy, MC; Michael A. Taylor, MD

Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1973;29(2):232-234.

Abstract
Evaluating lithium retention requires measurement of serum and urinary excretion lithium ion levels over a specified period of time following a single orally administered dose of lithium carbonate. We report the lithium retention of a matched group of acute manic patients and normal controls. Our results confirm earlier work suggesting that acute manic patients retain significantly more orally administered lithium ion than normal controls; that this difference is detectable by comparing amounts of lithium ion excreted in the urine, but not by comparing serum concentrations; and that this retention difference is apparent as early as six hours after the test dose administration and increases over a limited time.

Author Affiliations
USN; Oakland, Calif

From the Neuropsychiatry Service, Naval Hospital, Oakland, Calif. Dr. Taylor is currently with the Department of Psychiatry, New York Medical College, New York City.

Footnotes
Accepted for publication Dec 4, 1972.

The opinions or assertions contained herein are those of the authors and are not to be construed as official or necessarily reflecting the views of the Medical Department of the Navy or the Naval Service at large.

Reprint requests to Clinical Investigation Center, Naval Hospital, Oakland, CA 94627 (LCDR G. L. Almy, MC, USNR).