[Internal medicine evaluation of the surgical risk in cirrhosis patients]

A personal case series triggers an examination of surgical risk in patients with uncomplicated cirrhosis of the liver. After a general introduction the conditions that increase surgical risk in cirrhotic patients are analysed. These include generally poor resistance, altered haemostasis, a tendency towards cholestasis, water retention and hepatic encephalopathy. The conditions most often requiring surgical treatment are then considered. They include associated pathologies (cholelithiasis, hernias, tooth extractions, bleeding haemorrhoids etc) and complications of cirrhosis variceal bleeding, intractable ascites, splenomegaly, hepatocytoma).