Suppurative Pylephlebitis.

Purulent inflammation of the portal vein or its branches, due to the breaking down of a thrombus, may result from appendicitis with abscess, ulceration of the bowels, peptic abscess, abscess of the spleen, septic infection by way of the umbilical cord in the new-born, and by foreign bodies penetrating the Intestines, and later the portal vein.

There is enlargement of the liver and spleen, with marked tenderness in the right hypochondrium. There is more or less jaundice, the tongue is heavily coated, and nausea and vomiting are not infrequent. The fever is of an irregular type, with night-sweats. The evidences of septicemia are pronounced.

The diagnosis is made by grouping the clinical symptoms. The prognosis is unfavorable, and the treatment, palliative.

Affections of the hepatic vein are very rare, although they may occur in chronic enlargement of the heart.

Enlargement of the hepatic artery sometimes occurs in cases of cirrhosis of the liver, although extremely rare.

The Eclectic Practice of Medicine, 1907, was written by Rolla L. Thomas, M. S., M. D.