Guadalupe Garcia‐Tsao, Roberto J. Groszmann – 1 September 1987 – Nitroglycerin is a potent venous dilator and a mild arterial vasodilator that has been shown to improve the hemodynamic response to vasopressin in portal hypertensive patients and to decrease portal pressure in experimental animals. In order to determine the effect of nitroglycerin on portal venous hemodynamics, we studied 11 patients with alcoholic cirrhosis before and during the administration of sublingual nitroglycerin (0.4 and 0.6 mg).

Cynthia Cohen – 1 September 1987 – Liver cell dysplasia (LCD) is a premalignant cytologic change of hepatocytes that has been statistically linked to cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and chronic liver disease related to hepatitis B virus. The relationship of LCD to non‐A, non‐B (NANB) hepatitis is currently unknown. We studied liver biopsy and surgical resection specimens from 36 patients with NANB hepatitis, and identified LCD in 17 (42.5%) of 40 specimens, most often associated with cirrhosis.

Michael Bennick – 1 September 1987

Ousama E. Moussa, Harold O. Conn – 1 September 1987 – Since 1976, we have compared the end‐to‐side portacaval shunt (PCS) with the distal splenorenal shunt (DSRS) in patients with alcoholic liver disease and recurrent variceal bleeding. Fifty‐four patients were randomly assigned to receive either shunt procedure. There were 27 patients in each group and both groups were highly comparable in clinical and laboratory characteristics. Median follow‐up was 31 mo in each group. Postoperative complications and operative mortality (7% after PCS, 12% after DSRS) were comparable.

Donald M. Small – 1 September 1987 – Although bile acid and bile lipid metabolism have been studied in established cholelithiasis, little is known about them in patients destined to develop gall stones, but in whom the stones have not yet appeared (prestone gall stone disease). After confirmed complete gall stone dissolution and withdrawal of treatment, gall stones recur frequently.

Rafael E. Cuellar, Ralph Tarter, Amy Hays, David H. Van Thiel – 1 September 1987 – A case of a 20‐yr‐old female with possible “alcoholic hepatitis” and a mixed micro/macronodular cirrhosis occurring in association with overt bulimia and a history of anorexia nervosa, but without any objective evidence of either alcoholism or alcohol abuse, is reported. The possible factors that may have contributed, either alone or in combination, to produce this unusual occurrence are discussed.

Flavio Moroni, Oliviero Riggio, Vincenzo Carlà, Vittorio Festuccia, Florio Ghinelli, Ignazio R. Marino, Manuela Merli, Laura Natali, Giovanni Pedretti, Franco Fiaccadori, Livio Capocaccia – 1 September 1987 – The aim of the study was to verify the role of γ‐aminobutyric acid in the pathogenesis of hepatic encephalopathy occurring in cirrhotic patients by attempting to correlate plasma and cerebrospinal fluid content of authentic γ‐aminobutyric acid with the neurological manifestations of hepatic encephalopathy.

Kunio Okuda – 1 September 1987 – A total of 105 cases of fulminant hepatitis sen during the period fom January 1979 to December 1983 and filed by the pediatric services of major hospitals throughout Japan with the diagnostic criteria set by the 12th Inuyama Liver Symposium were analyzed. The male:Female atio was 2:1. Fifty‐six per cent of he cases werre younge than 2 years and 29.5% were thought to be due to hepaitis B infection. The majority of B‐type fulminant heptitis cases younger than 6 months not related to blood transfusion had been born to HBeAg‐negative caie mohers.

Harold O. Conn, Abby Van Voorhees, Sidney N. Klaus – 1 September 1987 – Although paraneoplastic phenomena occur frequently in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, cutaneous changes have rarely been reported. During the past two years, ten South African blacks with hepatocellular carcinoma and pityriasis rotunda have been seen in a single hospital. The rash affected the trunk, especially the lower back and buttocks. The lesions ranged in size from 1.5 to 25 cm and were always multiple.

Dale C. Snover – 1 September 1987 – The histologic findings in the original liver obtained from 9 liver allograft patients with active B virus hepatitis were compared with 28 post‐transplant pathology specimens. All specimens were studied with the use of light and immunohistochemical microscopy in conjunction with pertinent clinical data. Eight of the 9 patients had chronic active hepatitis B (HB) with cirrhosis, prior to transplant, one of which had coexistent hepatocellular carcinoma. The ninth patient had fulminant hepatic necrosis secondary to acute HB prior to transplantation.