A 41-Year-Old Man Comes to the Office Due to Progressive

question 1383

Multiple Choice

A 41-year-old man comes to the office due to progressive abdominal distension for the past 3 months.  He reports that his abdomen feels heavy and although uncomfortable, the feeling has not been severe enough to interfere with activities of daily living.  The patient drinks 8-10 beers a day and was previously hospitalized for alcohol-induced hepatitis.  Vital signs are within normal limits.  There is no jaundice.  Heart and lung sounds are unremarkable.  The liver edge is nodular and palpable 4 cm below the right costal margin.  A right upper quadrant ultrasound demonstrates cirrhosis and the presence of intraperitoneal fluid.  Which of the following would most likely lead to a decrease in both liver inflammation and portal pressure?

• A)ACE inhibitor therapy
• B)Beta blocker therapy
• C)Complete abstinence from alcohol
• D)Diuretic therapy
• E)Ursodeoxycholic acid therapy

---

Definitions:

S Chart

A statistical process control chart used to monitor the variability of process performance.

Distribution Mean

The average of all values in a data set, calculated by summing the values and dividing by the number of observations, representing the center or location of the distribution.

Standard Deviation

An indicator of how much data points deviate from the central value, signifying the spread of the dataset.

Process Distribution

The statistical distribution that characterizes the outputs or results of a process, helping to understand its behavior and variation.