Russell H. Wiesner, Patricia M. Grambsch, Keith D. Lindor, Jurgen Ludwig, E. Rolland Dickson – 1 May 1988 – Primary biliary cirrhosis is a chronic, progressive, cholestatic liver disease thought to be related to abnormalities in immune regulation. The disease is associated with granulomatous bile duct destruction, cholestasis, hepatic copper overloading and the development of hepatic fibrosis or cirrhosis or both. There have been numerous therapeutic trials evaluating immunosuppres‐sive, antifibrotic and cupruretic agents.

Fenton Schaffner – 1 May 1988 – One hundred and fifty‐four patients with histologically verified non‐alcoholic chronic liver disease were randomized to azathioprine or prednisone treatment. After a median of 91 months observation time, the cause of death was assessed retrospectively. Autopsy was performed in 82% of 71 deaths. In the azathioprine group 33% (13/39) died from malignant neoplasia, and in the prednisone group (13%) (4/32) (p = 0.08).

J. Donald Ostrow – 1 May 1988

Minoru Sukigara, Masahiko Ohata, Toshiro Komazaki, Ryozo Omoto – 1 May 1988 – The effect of spontaneous respiration on esophageal variceal flow was evaluated using 5 MHz color flow Doppler echography. Twenty‐one patients with esophageal varices, of whom 19 had liver cirrhosis (95%), were examined with a convex array transesophageal transducer. The direction and velocity of the variceal flow during inhalation and exhalation could be inferred from the color, its brightness or the Doppler time‐velocity spectrum.

Reidar Albrechtsen, Ulla M. Wewer, Snorri S. Thorgeirsson – 1 May 1988 – De novo formation of laminin‐positive basement membranes was found to be a distinct morphologic feature of diethylnitrosamine/phenobarbital‐induced hepatocellular carcinomas of the rat. The first appearance of extracellularly located laminin occurred in the pre‐neoplastic liver lesions (corresponding to neoplastic nodules), and this feature became successively more prominent during the course of hepatocellular carcinoma development.

Estela Monteiro, M. Patricia Alves, M. Livia Santos, Isabel Quintas, Amelia Baptista, Alberto Galvao‐Teles, Judith S. Gavaler – 1 May 1988 – The distribution of six HLA antigens in a population of 88 Portuguese chronic alcohol abusers with biopsy‐proven liver disease was compared to that in 66 Portuguese normal controls.

Luigi Bolondi, Stefano Gaiani, Alighieri Mazziotti, Paolo Casanova, Antonino Cavallari, Giuseppe Gozzetti, Luigi Barbara – 1 May 1988 – We investigated a group of patients who underwent distal splenorenal shunt using high‐resolution real‐time equipment and a duplex scanner with the aims: (i) to evaluate the rate of visualization of shunt; (ii) to assess change in size in the portal vein, and (iii) to characterize the flow pattern in the splenic vein and to study flow direction and velocity in the portal vein, thus adding new data on the efficacy of this operation in maintaining hepatic perf

Samuel S. Lee, Antoine Hadengue, Richard Moreau, Raymond Sayegh, Patrick Hillon, Didier Lebrec – 1 May 1988 – The hemodynamic response to a 800 kcal liquid meal was investigated in 24 patients (study group) with cirrhosis and two control groups. One control group of six cirrhotic patients (volume control) had a calorie‐free equivolumic electrolyte solution. The second control group (normal control) of six patients with normal hepatic function had the same test meal.

John S. Freiman, Allison R. Jilbert, Robert J. Dixon, Marlis Holmes, Eric J. Gowans, Christopher J. Burrell, Edward J. Wills, Yvonne E. Cossart – 1 May 1988 – Seventy, 1‐day‐old ducklings inoculated intraperitoneally with duck hepatitis B virus and 30 controls have been studied over a 2‐year period. Infection with duck hepatitis B virus occurred in all inoculated ducks, although this was not associated with clinical morbidity.

Shinichi Kakumu, Akihiko Fuji, Kentaro Yoshioka, Hirofumi Tahara, Yoshiyuki Ohtani, Hideo Hirofuji, Kenichi Murase, Tsuneto Aoi – 1 May 1988 – Recombinant human interleukin 2 was administered to 10 patients with chronic type B hepatitis as a part of a pilot study to evaluate its antiviral activity. Patients received 1 to 3 x 105 units per day of interleukin 2 for 21 to 28 days, and all completed the treatment schedule. During therapy, serum values of DNA polymerase decreased in 6 and became negative in four patients.