The roentgen demonstration of cirrhosis of the liver with fatty metamorphosis: report of a case due to congenital fibrocystic disease.

The diagnosis of cirrhosis of the liver ordinarily cannot be made on the basis of the routine roentgen examination. In those cases in which there is a large spleen associated with varices of the esophagus, the diagnosis of cirrhosis may be suspected on the basis of the roentgen examination, particularly if the liver is also enlarged. However, there are other diseases, such as Banti's syndrome and portal vein thrombosis, which may present the same roentgen findings. We are reporting a case of congenital fibrocystic disease with associated cirrhosis in which the diagnosis of cirrhosis was established entirely on the basis of the plain roentgenogram of the abdomen. Case History The patient was a male child first seen in the University of California Fibrocystic Clinic, Dec. 22, 1949, at the age of twenty-six months. He was referred to the clinic because of a diagnosis of fibrocystic disease. Two siblings had died of conditions which resembled fibrocystic disease. The patient had been followed by the referring...