Catarrh of the Bile-Ducts

III. Affections of the Biliary Passages.

HISTORY AND DEFINITION.—Although catarrh of the bile-ducts had been incidentally referred to by some previous writers, notably by Stokes of Dublin, Virchow was the first to treat of this condition systematically. Amongst recent writers, Harley appears to be the only one disposed to question the importance of catarrh of the bile-ducts as a factor in the production of jaundice. Even in phosphorus-poisoning the appearance of jaundice, at one time supposed to be hæmatogenic in source, has been referred to a catarrh of the bile-ducts. It seems probable that opinions have too decidedly veered toward the importance of this condition as a factor in the production of jaundice.

Archiv für path. Anat., Band xxxii. p. 117 et seq.

Diseases of the Liver, supra.

Wyss, Archiv der Heilkunde, 1867, p. 469 (Legg).

CAUSES.—Catarrh of the bile-ducts has been referred to all those causes which can excite a catarrhal process in any situation. These are systemic and local. Amongst the systemic may be placed peculiarities of constitution or idiosyncrasy. A tendency to hepatic disorders is a feature in certain types of constitution, and, as such types are transmitted, the hepatic disorders seem to be inherited. In such persons, possessing the so-called bilious nature, catarrh of the biliary passages is not uncommon, and a special susceptibility to it apparently exists. The atmospherical and other causes which in some subjects will set up a catarrh of the bronchi will in the bilious type induce a catarrh of the duodenum and bile-ducts. The malady is not inherited; only the character of bodily structure which favors it under the necessary conditions.

Climatic changes and certain seasons, especially the autumn, are influential causes. Exposure to cold and dampness, the body warm and perspiring, will set up a catarrhal process in the bile-ducts and intestine, especially in those having the special susceptibility which belongs to certain bodily types. Malarial miasm is an especially active cause in malarial regions. The writer has seen many examples in various parts of the United States within the malaria-breeding zone. Other miasmatic agencies are not without importance. The exhalations from the freshly-upturned soil of some cities, the gases from cesspools and sewers, and illuminating gas exert a causative influence. The bad air thus made up has been happily called civic malaria.

The most influential causes of catarrh of the biliary passages are local in origin and in action: they are the agencies which induce catarrh of the duodenum. Disturbances of the portal circulation should be first named. Whenever obstructive lesions of the cardiac orifices exist, whenever the pulmonary circulation is impeded by disease of the lungs, the portal vein is kept abnormally full, and as a necessary result of the stasis a catarrh of the mucous membrane follows. Congestion of the portal system may be a result of vaso-motor paresis. The abdominal sympathetic may be the seat of various reflex disturbances: those of a depressing kind induce stasis in the portal system. Certain medicinal agents have this effect, and prolonged and severe cutaneous irritation, it is probable, may act on the portal circulation in the same way. The action of cold on the peripheral nerves may be similarly explained.

Catarrh by contiguity of tissue is the most frequent factor. Catarrh of the duodenal mucous membrane is the initial condition, and from thence the process extends to the bile-ducts. Although the duodenum may be alone affected, the usual state of things is a gastro-intestinal catarrh, the stomach and the whole length of the small intestine being simultaneously diseased. When the catarrhal process is thus diffused the duodenal mucous membrane is most deranged, probably because the acid and fermenting chyme is first received here, and what acridity soever it may possess attacks this part in its greatest strength. It must be remembered that the secretion of the duodenal glands and of the pancreas and liver must also have an abnormal character; hence those foods which in the healthy condition of things are digested in this part of the canal undergo ordinary putrefactive decomposition and furnish very irritating products. This observation is especially true of the fats: the fat acids are in the highest degree irritating. The digestive fluid of the duodenum has a more or less pathological character, because the catarrhal process not only interferes with the habitually easy flow of the gland secretions, but, extending to the gland elements themselves, gradually alter their structure.

Gastro-intestinal catarrh results from the misuse of foods and the abuse of certain condiments and of spirits. Excess in the quantity of starchy, saccharine, and fatty foods which undergo conversion and absorption in the intestine, habitually consumed, decomposition of such portions as escape proper digestion ensues, and the products of this decomposition exercise an irritant influence on the mucous membrane. The daily consumption of sauces and condiments and of highly-seasoned foods has a constant irritating action; but more influential than any other causative agency is the abuse of malt liquors and spirit. Whilst the latter acts more on the stomach and the liver proper, the former affect more the duodenal mucous membrane and the bile-ducts.

To these causative agencies must be added a pathological state of the bile itself. Under conditions not now known the bile seems to acquire acrid properties and set up a catarrh in passing along the ducts.

PATHOLOGICAL ANATOMY.—The area affected by the catarrhal process varies greatly. The termination of the common duct for a short space may be the only part affected, but with this there is always more or less, sometimes most extensive and severe, duodenal catarrh, followed by jaundice. The extent to which the common duct is affected may be exactly indicated by the staining with bile, which extends down to the point of obstruction. The catarrhal process may invade the whole extent of the common duct, the cystic duct, gall-bladder, and the ramifications of the tube throughout the organ. The resulting appearances will vary accordingly.

The first change observable is a more or less considerable hyperæmia of the mucous membrane; but this is rarely seen, because the examination cannot be made at the time when this condition is present. The epithelial layer is swollen, sodden, the cells cloudy, undergoing rapid multiplication and desquamating. The cast-off cylindrical epithelium, mucous cells, and serum make up a turbid mixture, which, with bile, fills the smaller ducts, and may in places, especially at the orifice of the common duct, form an obstruction sufficient to prevent the passage of the bile; which may, however, be readily pressed out with a little force. Especially near the end of the common duct the mucus is apt to accumulate, and a plug of it, often tenacious and somewhat consistent, obstructs the orifice. It is probable that whilst catarrh is the chief cause of jaundice, it may also, by a merely intermittent activity, cause the condition of biliousness—now so far relieved as to permit the bile to descend into the intestine, now so much obstruction as to prevent the escape of any considerable part of that formed. When the common duct is the seat of the catarrhal process, and the outflow of bile thus prevented, it accumulates in the gall-bladder, which may be so far distended as to present a recognizable tumor of pyriform shape through the abdominal parietes.

When the catarrhal process invades the finer ducts the appearances are somewhat different. There are no bile-stains along the course of the common and cystic ducts, and the gall-bladder is empty, or at most contains only some mucus, with altered bile. The tubes at or near their ultimate ramifications contain a turbid mucus composed of cylindrical epithelium and lymphoid cells, and tenacious enough to close them firmly. More or less hyperæmia of the liver-structures proper, and consequent increased dimensions of the organ, a more or less active catarrhal condition of the duodenal mucous membrane, accompany the changes in the finer ducts.

SYMPTOMS.—There are marked differences in the behavior of the more acute cases of catarrh of the bile-ducts and the chronic examples of the same disorder. The former is held to be the most frequent cause of jaundice, whilst the latter is an important element in the so-called bilious state, in lithæmia, and as a secondary condition in some cardiac and pulmonary diseases. Also, the morbid complexus of catarrh of the bile-ducts includes the symptoms of duodenal and gastro-duodenal catarrh.

The acute form of this disease sets in with the symptoms of gastro-duodenal catarrh. Usually, after indulgence in too highly stimulating food or in some article having a specially irritating character, an attack of acute indigestion supervenes. The tongue is more or less heavily coated, the breath heavy, the taste bitter, pasty, or sourish, the appetite poor or actual repugnance to food, especially to the offending articles, is experienced, and nausea, not unfrequently vomiting, ensues. The epigastrium and the hypochondriac regions have a heavy, overloaded, distressed, and sore feeling; there is some tenderness to pressure; sometimes the gall-bladder, abnormally full, may be detected by careful palpation; and the area of hepatic dulness will usually be increased. The abdomen is more or less distended by gases, and eructations of offensive gases (hydrogen and sulphur compounds, volatile fat acids, etc.) occur. Constipation exists when the catarrhal process is limited to the duodenum, and the stools consist of hard lumps having a light yellow, clay-colored, or whitish appearance. When the whole extent of the small intestine is affected, the stools will be soft, liquid, or watery, and will vary in color from yellow to gray or white. In some cases the fecal matters will have an offensive odor—the odor of decomposition—and considerable discharges of very foul-smelling gas will attend the evacuations. This symptom will occur when the intestinal digestion is suspended and the contents of the bowel in consequence undergo putrefactive decomposition.

During the initial period of the disorder the urine will simply be high-colored and loaded with urates and uric acid, but when jaundice supervenes the pigment will convert the urine into a dark, coffee-colored, and somewhat thick liquid.

With the onset of the malady symptoms referable to the nervous system appear. Headache, dizziness, and hebetude of mind are present, and now and then an attack of catarrh of the bile-ducts will have the objective signs of an ordinary migraine or sick headache. Usually, however, as the intestinal and hepatic troubles develop, headache and some mental hebetude come on, but when jaundice supervenes the headache becomes more severe, and very considerable mental depression, irritability of temper, and moroseness are experienced. Chilly sensations, with flashes of heat, are felt at the outset, but with the appearance of jaundice the sensation of coldness predominates. In some cases, the intestinal catarrh being extensive, there will be, after some preliminary chilliness, a febrile movement, but this is never of a pronounced character, and in the slighter cases of the disease or when the catarrhal process is limited to the bile-ducts, there is no elevation of temperature. With the first symptoms the pulse is somewhat quickened, but as the bile acids accumulate in the blood they effect a decided slowing of the heart's action, the pulse falling as low, it may be, as 50 per minute. This lessened activity of the circulation is accompanied by corresponding reduction of temperature, the body-heat falling a degree or more.

The most distinctive symptom of catarrh of the bile-ducts is jaundice. In the acute or quickly-developing form above described of catarrhal icterus the symptoms of gastro-intestinal disturbance precede the first indication of jaundice from five to eight days. Yellowness of the conjunctiva and of those parts of the body exposed to the air is the first manifestation; afterward the jaundice hue becomes general. The tint varies in depth from a faint gamboge-yellow, only discernible in a favorable light, to a deep greenish- or brownish-yellow.

In the more chronic cases of catarrh of the bile-ducts the symptoms are simply those of a gastro-duodenal catarrh, to which some hepatic disturbances are superadded. Some abdominal uneasiness felt in the epigastrium and in the right hypochondrium, especially in two to three hours after meals; flatulence, sometimes accompanied by colic; constipation, persistent or alternating with diarrhoea—in the one case in hard lumps with more or less mucus adherent, in the other soft or liquid, and in both cases having a rather golden-yellow color, grayish or black and tar-like appearance,—such are the symptoms referable to the intestinal canal. The disturbances in the hepatic functions produced by the catarrhal swelling of the mucous membrane of the ducts are further exhibited in a somewhat sallow, earthy, or muddy complexion, yellowish tint of the conjunctiva, high-colored, acid urine loaded with urates and phosphates. Such subjects, although having, it may be, a keen appetite, rather lose than gain in weight: they experience lassitude, headache, much depression of spirits, and the mental symptoms are most pronounced during the time intestinal digestion is going on. In fact, the morbid complexus is rather that of intestinal catarrh; nevertheless, the slight degree of obstruction to the outflow of bile occurring in these cases has an influence both in the intestinal digestion and in the nutritive functions. Any degree of obstruction, as has already been pointed out, leads to serious structural change of the liver, and this in turn produces well-defined symptoms.

Disturbances of the hepatic functions, even jaundice, accompany the paroxysms of malarial fever. Without the occurrence of fever, catarrhal jaundice may come on during the course of chronic malarial poisoning. Catarrh of the bile-ducts is the pathogenetic factor in these cases. More especially in malarial regions, but also in temperate and warm climates, paroxysmal attacks, with or without jaundice, are comparatively frequent. These acute seizures occur in those having the chronic form of the malady, and are excited by sudden climatic changes, by excesses in eating, especially by the use of improper articles of diet. Considerable nausea, flatulence, and constipation or diarrhoea, weight, tension, and soreness in the right hypochondrium and sometimes in the shoulder, chilliness, general malaise, headache, and an increasing icterode tint of the skin, constitute the complexus of symptoms belonging to these cases.

COURSE, DURATION, AND TERMINATION.—Acute catarrh of the bile-ducts with jaundice has a well-defined course—in its mildest form, with little gastric or gastro-intestinal disturbance—lasting ten days or two weeks; in the ordinary form, with the accompanying gastro-duodenal catarrh, running its course in a month to six weeks. In the chronic form, with acute exacerbations due to indiscretions in diet or to climatic influences, the course of the disease is chequered by vicissitudes, the result of the causes just mentioned, and its duration must therefore be indefinite and, as a rule, protracted. Catarrh of the bile-ducts, or catarrhal jaundice, usually terminates in health after a period of functional derangement of the intestines and liver. Without exhibiting any features of a special character, some cases do not pass through this benign course: the intestinal catarrh sets up an ulcerative process at one or more points in the duodenum; but more especially the obstruction to the free course of the bile caused by the catarrhal swelling of the mucous lining of the ducts induces structural changes in the liver—an hypertrophy of the connective-tissue elements, a sclerosis.

DIAGNOSIS.—There are but two signs which indicate the nature of the disorder, and only one that is really distinctive. Intestinal indigestion with slight coincident biliary derangement is one, and jaundice is the other. When, after the signs and symptoms of gastro-duodenal catarrh have declared themselves, jaundice appears, there can be no question as to the nature of the case. The diagnosis is more difficult in the chronic cases with exacerbations due to the exciting causes above mentioned, for the persistence of the jaundice will suggest the occurrence of some permanent organic lesion. The differentiation of the various kinds of jaundice has already been made.

TREATMENT.—Regulation of the diet is of the first importance. Those foods requiring the intestinal juices for their solution and absorption, and which cannot be properly digested when a duodenal catarrh exists or when bile is absent, should of course be excluded from the diet. These articles are the fats, starches, and sweets. The mucus playing the part of a ferment, these substances are converted into various secondary products of an irritating character. Flatulence is caused by the evolution of carbonic acid gas and the hydrogen compounds of sulphur and phosphorus; and acetic, butyric, and other acids not only change the reaction of the intestinal juices, but are directly irritating to the mucous membrane. In the acute cases a diet of skimmed milk, taken hot and at three hours' interval, and after the acute symptoms have subsided, in conjunction with some other aliment, is the most appropriate mode of alimentation. Meats, fish, eggs, and oysters are the chief articles of diet, besides the milk, during the whole course of the more chronic cases; and to these may be added the succulent vegetables, as lettuce, spinach, celery, raw cabbage, and tomatoes. If, in consequence of irritability of the mucous membrane or of idiosyncrasy, any article occasions distress, it should be omitted from the diet.

The medicinal management includes the administration of remedies for gastro-intestinal catarrh. The treatment of catarrhal jaundice has been discussed. When constipation exists, saline laxatives, especially phosphate of sodium and Rochelle salt, are useful. If there be diarrhoea, the most appropriate remedies are bismuth, with or without carbolic acid, Hope's mixture, oxides of zinc and silver, and other mineral tonic astringents.

The propriety of the administration of special hepatic stimulants—cholagogues—has been much disputed. When the disorder consists merely in an obstruction to the outflow of bile, the utility of stimulating the production of this secretion seems more than doubtful. Much harm has been done by the indiscriminate use of mercury. Its power to increase the production of bile having been assumed, and the quantity of bile present in the feces being manifestly less in cases of catarrhal jaundice, it followed that mercury should be employed in this disorder. Modern experience has quite demonstrated its inutility in the mode and for the purpose to which it was formerly devoted. Nevertheless, good effects are had from calomel in small doses as a sedative to the mucous membrane. When there are nausea, headache, vertigo, and constipation present, excellent results may be had from the /20 gr. to /10 gr. of calomel, exhibited at short intervals until the bowels are moved. If calomel possessed the property formerly ascribed to it, of stimulating the hepatic functions, it would be contraindicated in catarrh of the bile-ducts. This contraindication exists in respect to all hepatic stimulants.

If there be decided irritability of the stomach and constipation, Seidlitz powders may be given at regular intervals. Phosphate of sodium in drachm doses is highly useful for the double purpose of a laxative effect and to prevent the tendency to inspissation of the bile, which is one of the most important results of catarrh of the bile-ducts and gall-bladder. In the more chronic cases the persistent use of sodium phosphate is to be highly commended.

In this disease, especially as it occurs in gouty subjects, sulphate of manganese is often decidedly serviceable. If anæmia and debility coexist, this remedy can be combined with sulphate of iron and sulphate of quinine—a combination which the writer has found peculiarly effective under such circumstances. When oxidation is deficient and the urates are present in the urine in excessive quantity, good effects are had from the permanganate of potassium, a tablet containing two grains being given four times a day. In the more chronic cases the salts of silver, copper, and zinc are really very useful, especially the oxides of silver and zinc; and of these the former is more efficient. Better than any of those mentioned is arsenic, as arseniate of sodium or as Fowler's solution, but the best results are had from small or medium doses persistently used. If there be much intestinal catarrh and consequent diarrhoea, bismuth and aromatic powder, oxide of silver, Fowler's solution with a little opium, Hope's mixture, etc. are appropriate remedies.

It is in catarrh of the bile-ducts that nitric and nitro-muriatic acids have proved useful, rather than in cirrhosis and other diseases of the liver-tissues. They prevent fermentation, promote oxidation, and increase the activity of the assimilative functions. When there occurs active fermentation of certain foods, and consequently considerable flatulence, excellent results are obtained from the members of the antiseptic group—from creasote or carbolic acid, salicylic acid, biborate of sodium, the benzoates, etc. To these may be added quinine, the dose of which will be determined by the purpose for which it is prescribed. So often is catarrhal jaundice of malarial origin that quinine becomes a remedy of high importance in the cases occurring in the malarial-forming zone.

Certain special plans of treatment have been proposed for the cure of catarrhal jaundice. One of the most effective of these is enemata of cold water. By means of an irrigating apparatus the large intestine is well distended with water once a day for several days. The first enema has a temperature of 60° F., and subsequent injections are a little warmer. The increased peristalsis of the bowels and the reflex contractions of the gall-bladder dislodge the mucus lining and obstructing the gall-ducts. When the bile flows into the intestine, digestion is resumed and the catarrhal inflammation subsides. But with the irrigation method may be employed other remedies, as above indicated.

Faradization of the gall-bladder has been used successfully for the expulsion of the stored-up bile and the removal of the mucus obstructing the ducts. It is applied by means of one moistened sponge electrode placed directly over the gall-bladder, and the other on the opposite side of the body and posteriorly. A slowly-interrupted faradic current is then passed. This expedient is not suitable when the case is acute in character.