One-hundred and four patients operated at Saku Central Hospital between September 1971 and January 1972 were followed; hepatitis B antigen with immuneadherence hemagglutination technique, hepatitis B antibody with passive hemagglutination technique, and transaminases.
Antigen incidence were 0.96 per cent in the patients and 1.62 per cent in blood donors. Among 9 recipients of hepatitis B antigen positive blood, 3 suffered from hepatitis (and one died with antigenemia). Another 4 patients developed hepatitis B antibody. The remaining 2 patients showed transient elevation of transaminases on the next day.
In the remaining 95 patients, I was antigen carrier. Four developed hepatitis, one of them became hepatitis B antigen carrier afterwards. Eight postoperatively developed antibody, which could not be detected preoperatively.
All 13 patients detected antibody preoperatively, were uneventful except one of the antigen positive blood transfused patients, whose serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase elevated to 152 units.