[Cytochemical studies of the alkaline leucocyte phosphatase activity (ALPh-A) in ageing and old patients suffering from acute pneumonia (author's transl)].

1. An ALPh activity increase is evident up to advanced age in patients suffering from unspecific acute pneumonia 2. In ageing and old patients, the ALPh activity diminishes manifestly with increasing age 3. ALPh-A diminishes at a slower rate with increasing age than the left shift according to Schilling 4. Cytochemical examination of the ALPh-A can be successfully used for obtaining reliable clinical and paraclinical diagnoses of acute pneumonia.