Decompensated Portal Cirrhosis

CLINICAL FEATURES OF THE ASCITIC STAGE OF CIRRHOSIS OF THE LIVER By Dr. Snell The association of ascites with lesions of the liver seems to have been known since the earliest times and was apparently recognized by Vesalius, Harvey, and Morgagni.¹One of the first known descriptive drawings of cirrhosis was by John Brown²who, in 1685, described a case under the title "A Human Liver Appearing Glandulous to the Eye" (fig. 1). Matthew Baillie³gave a good gross description in "Morbid Anatomy," and also noted the frequency of dilated superficial venous channels in the presence of dropsy. Legg⁴called attention to a description of cirrhosis published by John Andree,⁵in 1788, who wrote as follows: "Another kind of indurated and diminished liver which I have also met with, is that in which its surface is raised in half-rounded eminences, appearing like granulations, covered with