[Studies on the frequency and diagnostic value of hepatomegaly]

In 4 groups of patients (I = 1 621 internistic in-patients, II = 2 073 donors with increased SGPT-values, III = 2 619 after-examined patients with hepatitis, IV = 514 patients of a sanatorium for liver diseases) frequency and diagnostic validity of the symptom enlargement of the liver are tested. The most frequent cause of hepatomegalia is in group I an insufficiency of the right heart. The highest percentage, however, is to be found in liver diseases, then come heart insufficiency, diseases of stomach and gall-bladder, diabetes, rheumatic diseases. In these diseases liver biopsy detects additional changes in many cases. The validity test in the 4 groups yields very different results, dependent on the number of patients and the diagnostic questioning. The symptom hepatomegalia cannot be used as a screening test, but it is of high diagnostic value in the clinical diagnostics.