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The radio-active pharmaceuticals discussed in this volume have been used for testing liver function for more than 15 years; more recently they have found popularity as scanning agents. In the former role they met with only partial success, probably because they provide limited help in difficult clinical problems and were overshadowed by more sensitive, specific, and easily obtained chemical tests. Rosenthall reviews their history in this monograph and reports his experience with them in the differential diagnosis of jaundice. His method combines measurement of blood levels of 131I rose bengal (rose bengal sodium I 131) with sequential imaging of the liver, gallbladder, and small bowel for evidence of biliary obstruction. Twenty-minute rose bengal sodium I 131 blood retention of more than 86% invariably means parenchymal disease; 80% to 86% retention with no excretion into the small intestine indicates complete extrahepatic obstruction; but lesser degrees of retention with biliary excretion