Chinese Medical Journal

88 THE CHINESE MEDICAL JOURNAL

Table 1. The etiology of portal obstruction in 63 cases

Type of i 7 No. of Percentage obstruction Etiology cases 2

Laennec’s cirrhosis 50 79. Schistosomiasis of liver Laennec’s cirrhosis with concurrent | 63 primary carcinoma of liver ( . Cirrhosis following infectious hepatitis ) Extrahepatic Undetermined [ 14.3

Total* 63 100.0

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*The causes of obstruction in the 2 mediastinotomy cases were not determined and so they are excluded here.

Intrahepatic

or wm Ff

SEX AND AGE

Among the 65 cases, 50 were males and 15 females with a ratio of 3.3 to 1. It is interesting to note that 8 were females and only 1 was male in the extrahepatic group, while there was a marked preponderance of males with a ratio of approximately 6.7 to 1 in the intrahepatic group. In a total of 4,523 cases admitted to our hospital from March 1950 to February 1954, the sex ratio of male to female was 2.3 to 1. It is evident that the incidence of liver cirrhosis is much higher in the male than the female while the reverse is true for the extrahepatic type of portal hypertension (Table 2).

Table 2. Age and sex

1-10 11-20 21-30 31-40 41-50 Total xX . = ge in Age and sex M F M F M F M F M F AVI ses = ESSENSE Intrahepatic 1 Aa! 28 3 14 2 1 47 7 27.0 Extrahepatic 2 2, 2 2 1 8 28.1 —— eee Total* 1 4 3 29-5 14 4 i 48 15

*The 2 mediastinotomy cases are excluded.

The youngest patient was 9 years of age and the oldest 45. Most of the patients (approximately 83 per cent) were between 21 and 40. There was not much difference in the average age incidence between our extrahepatic and intrahepatic group of cases (Table 2). In other words, the age of patients with portal hypertension does not give any diagnostic hint as to whether the site of obstruction is intrahepatic or extrahepatic.

SYMPTOMS

The patients usually complained of abdominal mass, gradual distension of the abdomen, general weakness or lassitude, anorexia and irregular feverishness. Epistaxis, hematemesis and melena are also frequently present. Among our 65 cases, the chief complaints were ab-