Abstract
Nineteen liver biopsy specimens (8.9%) from 19 cases exhibited abnormal interlobular bile duct epithelium among 214 biopsy specimens from 188 patients with acute viral hepatitis.
Abnormal bile ducts had swollen, flat or columnar epithelial cells with karyopyknosis or karyorrhexis. The cytoplasm of some epithelial cells was deeply stained on eosin. Vacuolized epithelial cells were seen in 15 cases. In all 19 cases the epithelium was infiltrated by inflammatory cells and the epithelium was partly multilayered in 6 cases. The lumen was obstructed by swollen epithelial cells in 3 cases and cellular debris was occasionally found in it. Rupture of the walls of the bile ducts was noted in 6 cases.
The portal tracts containing abnormal bile ducts were enlarged and often infiltrated by lymphocytes which occasionally formed follicles without germinal center. Granuloma was never found.
