Primary carcinoma of the liver, with Banti's syndrome

Abstract

Summary A case of primary carcinoma of the liver is reported which occurred in a 6-year-old female child and was characterized by the pronounced cirrhotic changes in the organ, resulting in the development of collateral circulation (caput medusae), esophageal and gastric varices (hematemesis), splenomegaly, ascites, and a hypoplastic blood picture. Analysis of the train of symptoms in this case suggests the advisability of regarding the symptom complex seen in neoplastic diseases of the liver, in Banti's disease proper, and in the Smith-Howard-Wallgren syndrome as indistinguishable from one another, even though each may differ in its fundamental etiology. Clinically, however, all these conditions are typified by their common manifestations resulting from similar sequences of events, all of which may be conveniently designated as “Banti's syndrome.”