Portal Venous “Goodies” and Fulminant Viral Hepatitis

Fulminant viral hepatitis is a condition with an appalling mortality. Survival is only 10 to 20 per cent of those reaching the stage of deep coma, when painful stimuli cannot be appreciated. Treatment by corticosteroids, exchange blood transfusion and hemoperfusion through a pig or human liver, or through suitable columns containing active charcoal or by injections of levodopa, may be of some immediate benefit. Such measures may cause the patient to wake up temporarily but have not been followed by a convincing improvement in the overall survival rate. The "nitty-gritty" of the problem is to encourage the remaining viable liver . . .