Diseases of the liver, bile duct, or pancreas generally produce an increase in serum aminopeptidase activity (LAP) (1-14). This increase signifies excretory blockade (1, 6). The same is true of serum phosphatase, but an increase in this enzyme can also be caused by increased osteoblastic activity (15-26).
Previous reports (1, 3, 4, 6-8, 12, 27-34) have dealt with these serum enzymes in jaundiced patients, but the data on anicteric patients (3-6, 27, 28) are sparse. The purpose of the present report is to assess the relative merits of the serum values of these enzymes in 1,332 anicteric patients, 400 in