[Malabsorption in alcoholic cirrhosis].

21 patients with alcoholic cirrhosis were worked up for malabsorption. In three patients, the fecal weight was over 200 g/24 h; three had a steatorrhea over 6 g/24 h and in four the creatorrhea was over 2 g/24 h. The D-xylose test was abnormal 4 times out of 18, but these 4 patients presented an ascites. Alpha-1-antitrypsin clearance was increased in 1 out of 9 patients. The Lundh test demonstrated in 5 out of 8 cases an external pancreatic insufficiency, but without any relation with the fecal losses. The 4 patients with malabsorption showed signs of malnutrition (anthropometric criteria). In the course of an alcoholic cirrhosis, malabsorption seems therefore infrequent, dissociated, and only observed in patients with signs of malnutrition.