HEPAR LOBATUM WITH PORTAL HYPERTENSION SUCCESSFULLY TREATED BY PORTACAVAL ANASTOMOSIS

Interest in portal cirrhosis has been greatly stimulated by the recent advances in the nutritional aspects of the problem 1 and by the reports of Whipple, 2 Blakemore 3 and Blalock 4 establishing the feasibility of a direct attack on the abnormal pressure relationships between the portal and caval systems of veins in this condition. Most cases of intrahepatic portal obstruction and portal hypertension represent instances of Laennec's cirrhosis. However, other conditions occasionally produce portal hypertension, and these include so-called postnecrotic cirrhosis, 1 cirrhosis secondary to the taking of drugs 5 and syphilitic cirrhosis. The utilization of a portacaval anastomosis for portal hypertension resulting from this last condition, hepar lobatum, has not been previously reported. For this reason we present a case of hepar lobatum recently treated at this hospital by means of a portacaval anastomosis. REPORT OF CASE M. P., a 54 year old white woman, was transferred to