Jaundice: Its Pathogenesis and Differential Diagnosis

This book presents clearly the problems met in the diagnosis of diseases associated with jaundice In the first part the anatomic and functional changes found in the presence of jaundice are discussed. It includes a broad discussion of the normal and pathologic physiology of the liver, with a description of the basis and technic of the function tests in used Although indications and contraindications of the individual tests are not clearly defined, a successful attempt is made to combine them with clinical methods into an unified diagnostic approach. This part also contains an analysis of what little we know of the pathogenesis of jaundice. The shortcomings of this first section are caused by our still erratic knowledge of the physiologic basis of the function tests and of their application to the differential diagnosis of jaundice. Moreover, since, as yet, the correlation between anatomic and clinical findings in the liver is