The Diagnostic and Therapeutic Value of Liver Biopsies

Abstract

ACCURATE information regarding the particular phase of any morbid process under observation is essential to the institution of adequate therapeutic measures. Such an obvious and desirable goal, until recent years, has been only vaguely obtainable in intrahepatic disease. Numerous liver-function tests of simple or complex nature have been devised but have proved useful primarily as a means of estimating the degree of functional damage and of following the progress of intrahepatic disease rather than as a measure of exact diagnosis. The multiplicity of the liver's functions and its notable reserve capacity are such that at best, even when the entire . . .