III. “Is Life Worth Living? It Depends upon the Liver”

THE concept that I should like to put forward is supported by the old pun in the title and runs something like this: treatment of liver disease has been most successful against the complications while the liver disease itself often remains or progresses. Thus, death may supervene in spite of effective relief of the complications, indicating that more attention should be directed to the liver disease itself.A common complication of liver disease is ascites formation. Further accumulation of ascites can almost always be prevented by sufficient restriction of sodium intake, and diuresis usually is effected by diuretics. A suitable . . .