COMPENSATED CIRRHOSIS OF THE LIVER

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Abstract
In a former paper we1expressed the opinion that the institution of treatment of cirrhosis of the liver, both medical and surgical, is too long delayed and that in most cases diagnosis is not made until decompensation of the portal circulation is apparent, at which time the prospect of ultimate cure is remote or absent. The development of ascites and edema is of ominous prognostic significance; as Aretaeus2remarked of dropsy, "very few escape from it, and they more by fortune and the gods than by art." Successful treatment demands earlier recognition and earlier attempts at treatment. It has been observed that cirrhosis is often overlooked clinically and that it is first recognized at necropsy almost as often as it is correctly diagnosed during life. It is also well known that in the human subject and in the experimental animal extensive hepatic injury may be present without definite

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