534 Chronic Interstitial Hepatitis. 



If the contraction of the connective tissue involves a large 

 number of capillaries and other vessels, the transverse area of 

 the blood path is greatly diminished and there is consequently 

 congestion in the portal area. Compression or obstruction of 

 the bile ducts, especially in certain forms of cholangioitic cir- 

 rhosis, leads to biliary congestion. The destruction of the liver 

 cells affects not only the secretion of bile and the metabolism 

 of the body, but may also induce s3^nptoms of poisoning. In 

 many cases new bile ducts are formed by a process of budding 

 from preexisting ducts. 



Anatomical Changes. In cases where the connective tissue 

 has contracted, the liver has a tough and, in the later stages, 

 a leather-like consistency. When cut into the tissue grates 

 under the knife. At the outset there may be no visible reduc- 

 tion in the size of the organ and, in fact, it may be a little en- 

 larged. In the later stages the reduction becomes more and 

 more marked, until the liver may be only one half the normal 

 weight. The surface appears irregular and granular. In some 

 cases the surface is nodular. The serous covering may be thick- 

 ened at places and the edges may be formed simply of a double 

 fold of peritoneum. On the cut surface the compressed lobules 

 stand out like small granules against the pale red or grayish- 

 white connective tissue, which forms a wide network around 

 either groups of lobules or individual lobules. These granules 

 appear of a faint or deep yellow color, with a tinge of green, on 

 account of the fat and pigments contained in the liver cells. At 

 a distance the whole organ looks yellow. 



According to Kitt the liver in cases of Schweinsberg disease is at first enlarged, 

 its surface uneven and of a reddish-brown or gray color resembling porphyry or 

 granite. With the development and shrinking of the connective tissue the condition 

 known as ' ' granular atrophy ' ' is produced. 



In other forms of chronic interstitial hepatitis the liver 

 appears enlarged. The outer surface and the cut surface ap- 

 pear smooth, or at most somewhat granular and deep yel- 

 low or greenish-yellow in color (cirrhosis hypertrophica s, hy- 

 perplastica). Livers so affected may weigh as much as 20 kilos 

 in the horse and 20-25 kilos in the ox. Adam observed one 

 case in an ox in which the liver weighed 15.0 kilos (Kitt). In 

 the dog cirrhosis of the liver is frequently associated with fatty 

 degeneration. 



In calves still another form of hepatitis is seen, characterized by a diffuse 

 production of connective tissue and by degeneration of the parenchyma. . Tn such 

 cases the liver is tough and firm, yellowish-red or fiesh-like in color and covered 

 with whitish spots and streaks. Tliere is acute swelling of the neighboring lym- 

 phatic glands. 



Eauscher recognized the following types of chronic hepatitis: 

 1. Diffuse induration, including the socalled "porphyry liver," the enlarged, 

 leaden colored livers seen in cases of distomatosis, and the nutmeg and cirrhotic 

 livers seen in Schweinsberg disease. 



