A Liver Biopsy of Scarlatinal Jaundice

Abstract

A liver biopsy was carried out on a 4 year old male patient suffering from scarlet fever with jaundice on the 17th day of illness in order to clarify the pathogenesis of scarlatinal jaundice. The clinical findings and the course of illness were reported.
The histological findings obtained were as follows:
1) Albumin-thrombi in bile capillaries.
2) Deposition of bile pigment in liver cells.
3) Neither necrosis nor fatty degeneration of liver cells.
4) Neither cholangiolitis nor stagnation of bile in the portal space.
These findings suggest that the scarlatinal jaundice represent a kind of obstructive jaundice caused by the albumin-thrombi due to the disturbance of permeability of bile capillaries which resulted from infectious liver cell impairment.