31.   The diagnosis of chronic liver disease was made by accepted clinical, serological and histological criteria.

32.   Patients were stratified according to whether recurrent HBV caused severe, progressive liver injury, including cirrhosis, or mild liver disease.

33.   Six patients with alcoholic liver disease had had serious infections within the past year.

34.   Patients with liver disease may be susceptible to infection, particularly when this is secondary to alcohol abuse.

35.   There are several possible explanations for the finding of functional hyposplenism in this group of patients with alcoholic liver disease.

36.   No single clear explanation emerges to explain the high pitted counts in alcoholic liver disease and it is likely to be multifactorial.

37.   The risk of postoperative infections in patients in which a diagnosis of alcoholic liver disease had not been established preoperatively had also been shown to be high.

38.   This is the first reported study to show convincingly the presence of functional hyposplenism in patients with alcoholic liver disease.

39.   In adults, portal vein occlusion may complicate chronic liver disease but more frequently results from intra-abdominal sepsis, neoplasia, or a thrombotic disorder.

40.   In three patients there was coexisting liver disease and in one of these patients, the PVO was associated with the development of hepatocellular carcinoma.