Liver Disease From Tetrachloroethylene

To the Editor:— The report, "Liver Disease Secondary to Tetrachloroethylene Exposure," by Meekler and Phelps (197:662, 1966) is an interesting account. Lack of quantitative data on the amount of tetrachloroethylene to which the patient was exposed is regrettable. I wonder if the authors called on either the city or state health departments to aid in getting such data or requested such assistance from the staff of the Department of Preventive Medicine of Ohio State University. Our experience in extensive investigations has been that exposure to this material is actually quite minimal, although it is the most commonly used "dry cleaning" solvent in the Cincinnati area. It is not a highly toxic agent in my experience. Therefore, if the illness was indeed due to the chemical, the exposure must have been unusually heavy. On the other hand, the two-week delay in the appearance of jaundice following what was apparently a